Strong Superexchange in a Nickelate Revealed by Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering
- 22 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 126 (8), 087001
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.126.087001
Abstract
The discovery of superconductivity in a 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 -edge and O -edge spectroscopy of the reduced trilayer nickelates (where , Pr) and associated theoretical modeling. A magnon energy scale of resulting from a nearest-neighbor magnetic exchange of is observed, proving that nickelates can host a large superexchange. This value, along with that of the Ni-O hybridization estimated from our O -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.
Funding Information
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (DE-SC0012704)
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Basic Energy Sciences (DE-SC0012704, DE-AC02-06CH11357)
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (2016YFA0401000)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (11934017)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (112111KYSB20170059)
- National Science Foundation (2045826)
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