Pressure-induced monotonic enhancement of Tc to over 30 K in the superconducting Pr0.82Sr0.18NiO2 thin films

TL;DR

Applying pressure to Pr0.82Sr0.18NiO2 thin films significantly increases their superconducting transition temperature from 17 K to over 30 K, suggesting potential for further Tc enhancement through pressure or strain engineering.

Contribution

This study demonstrates a monotonic pressure-induced increase in Tc up to 31 K in Pr0.82Sr0.18NiO2 thin films, providing new insights into tuning superconductivity in nickelates.

Findings

Tc increased from 17 K to over 30 K under pressure

No saturation observed in Tc increase up to 12.1 GPa

Pressure can further enhance superconductivity in nickelates

Abstract

The successful synthesis of superconducting infinite-layer nickelate thin films with the highest Tc ~ 15 K has reignited great enthusiasms on this family of potential analogue to high-Tc cuprates. Pursuing a higher Tc is always an imperative task in studying a new superconducting material system. Here we report high-quality Pr0.82Sr0.18NiO2 thin films with Tconset ~ 17 K synthesized by carefully tuning the amount of CaH2 in the topological chemical reduction and the effect of pressure on its superconducting properties by measuring electrical resistivity under various pressures in a cubic anvil cell apparatus. We find that the onset temperature of the superconductivity, Tconset, can be enhanced monotonically from ~ 17 K at ambient pressure to ~ 31 K at 12.1 GPa without showing signatures of saturation upon increasing pressure. This encouraging result indicates that the Tc of infinite-layer nickelates superconductors still has room to go higher and it can be further boosted by applying higher pressures or strain engineering in the heterostructure films.