Electronic structure of superconducting infinite-layer lanthanum nickelates

Wenjie Sun; Zhicheng Jiang; Chengliang Xia; Bo Hao; Shengjun Yan; Maosen Wang; Yueying Li; Hongquan Liu; Jianyang Ding; Jiayu Liu; Zhengtai Liu; Jishan Liu; Hanghui Chen; Dawei Shen; Yuefeng Nie

doi:10.1126/sciadv.adr5116

Electronic structure of superconducting infinite-layer lanthanum nickelates

Sci Adv. 2025 Jan 24;11(4):eadr5116. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr5116. Epub 2025 Jan 22.

Authors

Wenjie Sun^{1

2}, Zhicheng Jiang³, Chengliang Xia⁴, Bo Hao^{1

2}, Shengjun Yan^{1

2}, Maosen Wang^{1

2}, Yueying Li^{1

2

5}, Hongquan Liu^{4

6}, Jianyang Ding⁷, Jiayu Liu⁷, Zhengtai Liu⁸, Jishan Liu⁸, Hanghui Chen^{4

9}, Dawei Shen³, Yuefeng Nie^{1

2

10}

Affiliations

¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
² Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
³ National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
⁴ NYU-ECNU Institute of Physics, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200122, China.
⁵ Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
⁶ Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
⁷ National Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.
⁸ Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China.
⁹ Department of Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA.
¹⁰ Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center, Nanjing 210093, China.

PMID: 39841837
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adr5116

Abstract

Revealing the momentum-resolved electronic structure of infinite-layer nickelates is essential for understanding this class of unconventional superconductors but has been hindered by the formidable challenges in improving the sample quality. In this work, we report the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of superconducting La_0.8Sr_0.2NiO₂ films prepared by molecular beam epitaxy and in situ atomic-hydrogen reduction. The measured Fermi topology closely matches theoretical calculations, showing a large Ni [Formula: see text]-derived Fermi sheet that evolves from hole-like to electron-like along k_z and a three-dimensional (3D) electron pocket centered at the Brillouin zone corner. The Ni [Formula: see text]-derived bands show a mass enhancement (m*/m_DFT) of 2 to 3, while the 3D electron band shows negligible band renormalization. Moreover, the Ni [Formula: see text]-derived states also display a band dispersion anomaly at higher binding energy, reminiscent of the waterfall feature and kinks observed in cuprates.