Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 39: Focus Session: Nickelate Superconductivity: Insights into Unconventional Pairing and Correlation Effects I (joint session TT/DS/MA)

TT 39.4: Topical Talk

Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 11:15–11:45, HSZ/0003

Disorder and distortions: what electrons tell us about nickelate superconductivity — •Berit H. Goodge — MPI-CPfS, Dresden, Germany

Recent realizations of superconductivity in both square-planar and bilayer Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates have opened a host of opportunities to explore fundamental questions of high-temperature superconductivity, while simultaneously posing unique synthetic challenges. Despite recent breakthroughs in sample synthesis, however, the highest quality thin films still pose immense challenges for investigation of fundamental characteristics, such as the pairing symmetry of the superconducting order parameter. Systematically introducing point-like disorder with high-energy electron irradiation consistently suppresses the superconducting transition, pointing towards a sign-changing order parameter in square-planar nickelates [1]. In parallel, epitaxial stabilization of superconductivity in bilayer nickelate thin films has opened the door to investigate local atomic structure and bonding environments. Leveraging the highest accessible spatial resolution and light-element sensitivity enabled by state-of-the-art multislice electron ptychography, we survey a series of bilayer nickelate thin films spanning a full series of tensile and compressive strain. We combine these experimental with strain-decomposed DFT calculations to investigate correlations between the observed atomic structure and superconductivity [2].
[1] Ranna et al., PRL 135, 126501 (2025).
[2] Bhatt et al., arXiv:2501.08204 (2025).

Keywords: superconductivity; infinite-layer; Ruddlesden-Popper; electron ptychography; disorder