Pressure-induced trans-proximate correlation in La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ and possible routes to enhance its superconductivity

Ruoshi Jiang; Zhiyu Fan; Bartomeu Monserrat; Wei Ku

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arXiv · 2505.13442

Pressure-induced trans-proximate correlation in La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ and possible routes to enhance its superconductivity

Ruoshi Jiang·Zhiyu Fan·Bartomeu Monserrat·Wei Ku

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Abstract

We report an unexpected trans-proximate interlayer correlation (stronger correlation between disjoint layers than the adjacent ones) in the high-pressure phase of the recently discovered La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ superconductors. Accompanied by an unusual pressure-induced fractionalization of Ni$^{2+}$ ionic spin from the standard spin-1 to spin-$\frac{1}{2}$, this trans-proximate correlation results from the emergence of a cross-layer trimer in our multi-energy-scale derivation of the electron dynamics. The resulting low-energy effective description resembles that of the cuprates and suggests a universal superconducting mechanism in all existing nickelate and cuprate superconductors. The rare trans-proximate correlation not only explains the weaker superconductivity in comparison with the related La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ samples, but it also indicates a viable strategy to improve superconductivity in this trilayer nickelate by lowering layer symmetry. Such pressure-induced trans-proximate correlation is expected in many materials and examplifies the engineering of rich uncharted quantum states of matter through pressure.

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Ruoshi Jiang, Zhiyu Fan, Bartomeu Monserrat, Wei Ku. 2025-05-19. Pressure-induced trans-proximate correlation in La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$ and possible routes to enhance its superconductivity. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.13442

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