# Hole Binding around Ni Impurity in Cuprates

## TL;DR

This study investigates how Ni impurities affect hole distribution in cuprates, revealing hole binding around Ni that influences modeling and suggesting an experimental verification via resonant inelastic x-ray scattering.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed numerical analysis of hole binding around Ni impurities in cuprates, highlighting the importance of O2p orbitals and proposing an experimental approach.

## Key findings

- Hole predominantly binds to O2p orbitals around Ni
- Formation of Zhang-Rice doublet around Ni impurity
- Implications for modeling Ni-substituted cuprates

## Abstract

We examine the influence of Ni impurity in cuprates on the distribution of hole carriers by performing numerically exact diagonalization calculations for a model consisting of Cu3d, Ni3d, and O2p orbitals. Using realistic parameters for the system, we find that a hole is predominantly bound to O2p orbitals around the Ni impurity forming the Zhang-Rice doublet. This imposes strong restrictions on modeling Ni-substituted cuprates. We propose a resonant inelastic x-ray scattering experiment for Ni K-edge to confirm hole binding around the Ni impurity.