A Superconducting Praseodymium Nickelate with Infinite Layer Structure.

Osada, Motoki; Wang, Bai Yang; Goodge, Berit H; Lee, Kyuho; Yoon, Hyeok; Sakuma, Keita; Li, Danfeng; Miura, Masashi et al. · Nano Lett · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

A variety of nickel oxide compounds have long been studied for their manifestation of various correlated electron phenomena. Recently, superconductivity was observed in nanoscale infinite layer nickelate thin films of Nd<sub>0.8</sub>Sr<sub>0.2</sub>NiO<sub>2</sub>, epitaxially stabilized on SrTiO<sub>3</sub> substrates via topotactic reduction from the perovskite precursor phase. Here, we present the synthesis and properties of PrNiO<sub>2</sub> thin films on SrTiO<sub>3</sub>. Upon doping in Pr<sub>0.8</sub>Sr<sub>0.2</sub>NiO<sub>2</sub>, we observe superconductivity with a transition temperature of 7-12 K and robust critical current density at 2 K of 334 kA/cm<sup>2</sup>. These findings indicate that superconductivity in the infinite layer nickelates is relatively insensitive to the details of the rare earth 4<i>f</i> configuration. Furthermore, they motivate the exploration of a broader family of compounds based on two-dimensional NiO<sub>2</sub> planes, which will enable systematic investigation of the superconducting and normal state properties and their underlying mechanisms.