Unconventional Pressure Dependent Interorbital and Interlayer Doping in Superconducting Nickelates

TL;DR

This paper reveals unconventional pressure-dependent doping mechanisms in nickelates that align their electronic structure with cuprates, providing a unified framework for understanding nickelate superconductivity.

Contribution

It uncovers pressure-dependent interlayer and interorbital doping effects in nickelates, clarifying their electronic structure and strengthening the connection to cuprate superconductors.

Findings

Unconventional doping effects observed in La4Ni3O10 under pressure.

d_{x^2-y^2} orbital occupation similar to cuprates.

Provides a consistent framework for nickelate superconductivity.

Abstract

The discovery of nickelate superconductivity provided the first example of a non-copper-based material with superconductivity strongly analogous to the cuprates, but recent findings raise questions and inconsistencies around the electron counts and doping phase diagrams. We show using superconducting La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ that there are unconventional interlayer and interorbital intrinsic doping effects that render the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital occupation similar to the cuprates. The results enable a consistent framework for nickelate superconductivity, while maintaining the connection between cuprate and nickelate superconductors.