Dissecting superconductivity in the Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates: The role of electron correlation and interlayer magnetic exchange

Abstract

The discovery of superconductivity in the Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) nickelates has opened a new chapter in the search for high superconducting transition temperatures ($T_\mathrm{c}$) materials. A central and puzzling feature of this family is the wide variation in $T_\mathrm{c}$ despite their common NiO$_2$ building blocks, as highlighted by the recent observation of superconductivity at $\sim$ 30 K in trilayer $\mathrm{La_4Ni_3O_{10}}$, significantly lower than 80 K reported in bilayer $\mathrm{La_3Ni_2O_7}$. Understanding the factors that control $T_\mathrm{c}$ in this family is therefore of paramount importance. Here, we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to investigate the electronic and magnetic excitations of $\mathrm{La_4Ni_3O_{10}}$ in direct comparison with its bilayer counterpart. Our results reveal a markedly different landscape. $\mathrm{La_4Ni_3O_{10}}$ exhibits a more itinerant character, evidenced by broader Ni $dd$ orbital excitations and a strong Ni 3$d$ fluorescence continuum, suggesting weaker electronic correlations than in the bilayer. Despite this, well-defined collective spin excitations persist, including dispersive acoustic and optical magnon branches alongside an incommensurate spin density wave. Using linear spin wave theory, we extract the interlayer superexchange interaction ($J_z$) to be $\sim$ 22 meV, much smaller than that in $\mathrm{La_3Ni_2O_7}$. The weaker correlation and reduced interlayer exchange together provide a consistent explanation for the substantially lower $T_\mathrm{c}$ in the trilayer compound. Our findings establish interlayer magnetic coupling and electronic correlation as key parameters governing superconductivity in layered nickelates and offer critical constraints for understanding the pairing mechanism in this emerging family.