Strain-tuning for superconductivity in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ thin films

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that applying strain to La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ thin films can significantly enhance their superconducting transition temperature, revealing strain engineering as a key method to optimize high-$T_c$ superconductivity in nickelates.

Contribution

It shows that strain tuning can systematically increase $T_c$ in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ films, providing a new approach to enhance superconductivity in bilayer nickelates.

Findings

$T_c$ increases from 10 K to 60 K with strain

Strain affects the $c/a$ ratio and orbital energy landscape

Strain engineering can optimize superconductivity in nickelates

Abstract

The recent discovery of high-transition temperature ($T_\mathrm{c}$) superconductivity in pressurized La$_{3}$Ni$_{2}$O$_{7}$ bulk crystals has attracted keen attention due to its characteristic energy diagram of $e_{g}$ orbitals, containing nearly half-filled $d_{3z^2 - r^2}$ and quarter-filled $d_{x^2 - y^2}$ orbitals. This finding provides valuable insights into the orbital contributions and interlayer interactions in double NiO$_{6}$ octahedra, offering opportunities to control the electronic structure via ligand field variations. Here, we demonstrate strain-tuning of $T_\mathrm{c}$ over a range of 50 K in La$_{3}$Ni$_{2}$O$_{7}$ films grown on different oxide substrates under 20 GPa. As the $c/a$ ratio increases, the onset $T_\mathrm{c}$ systematically rises from 10 K in the tensile-strained film on SrTiO$_{3}$ to a maximum of about 60 K in the compressively strained film on LaAlO$_{3}$. These systematic variations suggest that strain engineering is a promising strategy for expanding superconductivity in bilayer nickelates by tuning the orbital energy landscape toward high-$T_\mathrm{c}$ superconductivity.