Strong Superexchange in a ${d}^{9\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta}}$ Nickelate Revealed by Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering

Strong Superexchange in a $d^{9 - δ}$ Nickelate Revealed by Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering

J. Q. Lin, P. Villar Arribi, G. Fabbris, A. S. Botana, D. Meyers, H. Miao, Y. Shen, D. G. Mazzone, J. Feng, S. G. Chiuzbăian, A. Nag, A. C. Walters, M. García-Fernández, Ke-Jin Zhou, J. Pelliciari, I. Jarrige, J. W. Freeland, Junjie Zhang, J. F. Mitchell, V. Bisogni, X. Liu, M. R. Norman, and M. P. M. Dean

Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 087001 – Published 22 February 2021

Abstract

The discovery of superconductivity in a $d^{9 - δ}$ nickelate has inspired disparate theoretical perspectives regarding the essential physics of this class of materials. A key issue is the magnitude of the magnetic superexchange, which relates to whether cuprate-like high-temperature nickelate superconductivity could be realized. We address this question using Ni $L$ -edge and O $K$ -edge spectroscopy of the reduced $d^{9 - 1 / 3}$ trilayer nickelates $R_{4} {Ni}_{3} O_{8}$ (where $R = La$ , Pr) and associated theoretical modeling. A magnon energy scale of $\sim 80 meV$ resulting from a nearest-neighbor magnetic exchange of $J = 69 (4) meV$ is observed, proving that $d^{9 - δ}$ nickelates can host a large superexchange. This value, along with that of the Ni-O hybridization estimated from our O $K$ -edge data, implies that trilayer nickelates represent an intermediate case between the infinite-layer nickelates and the cuprates. Layered nickelates thus provide a route to testing the relevance of superexchange to nickelate superconductivity.

Received 6 August 2020
Accepted 15 January 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.087001

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Magnetic coupling Magnetic interactions Magnons Superconducting phase transition

High-temperature superconductors Strongly correlated systems

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

J. Q. Lin ^1,2,3,4, P. Villar Arribi ⁵, G. Fabbris^1,6, A. S. Botana⁷, D. Meyers^1,8, H. Miao^1,9, Y. Shen ¹, D. G. Mazzone ^1,10, J. Feng ^11,*, S. G. Chiuzbăian ^11,12, A. Nag¹³, A. C. Walters ¹³, M. García-Fernández¹³, Ke-Jin Zhou¹³, J. Pelliciari ¹⁴, I. Jarrige¹⁴, J. W. Freeland ⁶, Junjie Zhang^5,15, J. F. Mitchell ⁵, V. Bisogni¹⁴, X. Liu^2,†, M. R. Norman^5,‡, and M. P. M. Dean ^1,§

¹Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
²School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
³Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
⁴University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
⁵Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA
⁶Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA
⁷Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
⁸Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
⁹Material Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
¹⁰Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
¹¹Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de Chimie Physique-Matière et Rayonnement, UMR 7614, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
¹²Synchrotron SOLEIL, L’Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin, BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
¹³Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0DE, United Kingdom
¹⁴National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
¹⁵Institute of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China

^*CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China, and Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
^†liuxr@shanghaitech.edu.cn
^‡norman@anl.gov
^§mdean@bnl.gov