Stripe-Like Superconducting Enhancement and Coexisting Magnetic Texture in an Infinite Layer Nickelate
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Despite their promise as structural and electronic analogs to cuprates, nickelate thin films consistently exhibit broadened superconducting transitions in many experiments that remain poorly understood. Local measurements are ideal for revealing the presence of defects or competing phases, which may cause this transition broadening through a phase-separation. Here, we use scanning SQUID microscopy to investigate local superfluid density and magnetic texture of optimally doped $\mathrm{Nd}_{1-x}\mathrm{Eu}_{x}\mathrm{NiO}_{2}$ (NENO) (x=0.25) grown via molecular beam epitaxy. We observed a weakly-magnetic texture coexisting with superconductivity. Spatially resolved susceptibility imaging reveals a highly non-uniform superconducting state, characterized by a robust stripe-like enhancement pattern appearing near the phase transition. By resolving the mesoscopic landscape of electronic and magnetic inhomogeneities, these findings suggest that a competing magnetic phase is a primary contributor to the unusually broad superconducting transitions of these optimally doped NENO samples. Understanding the uncovered superconducting enhancement may provide a path to raising superconducting temperatures in these materials.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institutions: University of Connecticut, Yale University
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G2981724458
OpenAlex ID: W7213340362