Rare-earth nickelates are becoming more and more the focus of research since the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in infinite-layer and Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) bilayer nickelates. For exploration of the underlying mechanism of potential superconductivity, the trilayer RP compound La₄Ni₃O₁₀ is ideal, as it maintains its metallic character at low temperatures under ambient pressure and due to the interplay between magnetism and interlayer coupling, with many exciting phases and transitions which could be determined in prevoius publications, some of them presented earlier in this blog.
In a recent ArXiv upload, researchers from Fudan University report a significant breakthrough in the study of high-temperature superconductivity in trilayer nickelate La₄Ni₃O₁₀ single crystals. By using the ScIDre high oxygen pressure and high temperature optical floating zone furnace HKZ, they were able to grow high-quality single crystals, which allowed them to explore the underlying mechanism of potential superconductivity. Applying pressure to these crystals led to the emergence of superconductivity with a critical temperature of around 30 K. The normal state exhibits "strange metal" behavior, with a linear temperature-dependent resistance up to 300 K. The authors emphasize, that these findings provide important insights into the fundamental mechanisms of superconductivity and introduce a new material platform for further exploration. This avenue of research holds great potential for uncovering novel phenomena and advancing our understanding of high-temperature superconductors.