Theoretical study on ambient pressure superconductivity in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ thin films : structural analysis, model construction, and robustness of $s\pm$-wave pairing

TL;DR

This study theoretically investigates ambient pressure superconductivity in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ thin films, focusing on structural models and the robustness of $s extpm$-wave pairing mediated by spin fluctuations.

Contribution

It constructs and compares models based on different crystal structures and demonstrates the robustness of $s extpm$-wave pairing despite structural variations.

Findings

$s extpm$-wave pairing remains robust across different structural models.

The pairing is mediated by finite energy spin fluctuations, insensitive to Fermi surface details.

Reduced $T_c$ can be explained by small interlayer hopping in the model.

Abstract

We theoretically study ambient pressure superconductivity in thin films of La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$. We construct model Hamiltonians adopting the crystal structure theoretically determined by fixing the in-plane lattice constant to those substrates examined in the experiment. We also construct a model based on the experimentally determined lattice structure. To the models obtained, we apply the fluctuation exchange approximation, which takes into account the full momentum and frequency dependencies of the Green function and the pairing interaction. We find that the electronic structure, including the presence/absence of the so-called $\gamma$-pocket (the Fermi surface originating from the top of the $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ bonding band) depends on the crystal structure adopted and/or the presence/absence of $+U$ correction in the band structure calculation. Nonetheless, $s\pm$-wave pairing symmetry remains robust regardless of these details in the band structure. The robustness of the $s\pm$-wave pairing mainly owes to the fact that it is mediated by finite energy spin fluctuations, which are insensitive to the details of the Fermi surface topology and give rise to a nearly-momentum-independent gap function for the interlayer $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ pairing in the orbital representation. On the other hand, $T_c$ being halved from that of the pressurized bulk can only be understood by adopting the model with small $|t_{\perp}|$ derived from the experimentally determined crystal structure, at least within the present FLEX approach, although there may remain some other possibilities beyond this approach for the origin of the reduced $T_c$.