Electronic structure of superconducting nickelates probed by resonant photoemission spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study investigates the electronic structure of superconducting nickelates using resonant photoemission spectroscopy, revealing a Mott-Hubbard type electronic structure and correlations with superconducting properties.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental analysis of the electronic structure of infinite-layer nickelates, confirming their Mott-Hubbard nature and identifying key electronic correlations.

Findings

Ni electronic correlations with U ~5 eV

Evidence of self-doping from rare-earth states

Correlation between Tc and oxygen 2p hybridization

Abstract

The discovery of infinite-layer nickelate superconductors has spurred enormous interest. While the Ni$^{1+}$ cations possess nominally the same 3$d^9$ configuration as Cu$^{2+}$ in cuprates, the electronic structure variances remain elusive. Here, we present a soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy study on parent and doped infinite-layer Pr-nickelate thin films with a doped perovskite reference. By identifying the Ni character with resonant photoemission and comparison to density functional theory + U (on-site Coulomb repulsion energy) calculations, we estimate U ~5 eV, smaller than the charge transfer energy $\Delta$ ~8 eV, confirming the Mott-Hubbard electronic structure in contrast to charge-transfer cuprates. Near the Fermi level ($E_F$), we observe a signature of occupied rare-earth states in the parent compound, which is consistent with a self-doping picture. Our results demonstrate a correlation between the superconducting transition temperature and the oxygen 2$p$ hybridization near $E_F$ when comparing hole-doped nickelates and cuprates.