Kondo scattering in underdoped Nd1-xSrxNiO2 infinite-layer superconducting thin films

Ting-Na Shao; Zi-Tao Zhang; Yu-Jie Qiao; Qiang Zhao; Hai-Wen Liu; Xin-Xiang Chen; Wei-Min Jiang; Chun-Li Yao; Xing-Yu Chen; Mei-Hui Chen; Rui-Fen Dou; Chang-Min Xiong; Guang-Ming Zhang; Yi-Feng Yang; Jia-Cai Nie

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwad112

Kondo scattering in underdoped Nd_1-xSr_xNiO₂ infinite-layer superconducting thin films

Natl Sci Rev. 2023 Apr 25;10(11):nwad112. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwad112. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Ting-Na Shao¹, Zi-Tao Zhang¹, Yu-Jie Qiao¹, Qiang Zhao¹, Hai-Wen Liu¹, Xin-Xiang Chen¹, Wei-Min Jiang¹, Chun-Li Yao¹, Xing-Yu Chen¹, Mei-Hui Chen¹, Rui-Fen Dou¹, Chang-Min Xiong¹, Guang-Ming Zhang^{2

3}, Yi-Feng Yang^{4

5

6}, Jia-Cai Nie¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing100875, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing100084, China.
³ Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information, Beijing100084, China.
⁴ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, China.
⁵ School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, China.
⁶ Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan523808, China.

Abstract

The recent discovery of superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates generates tremendous research endeavors, but the ground state of their parent compounds is still under debate. Here, we report experimental evidence for the dominant role of Kondo scattering in the underdoped Nd_1-xSr_xNiO₂ thin films. A resistivity minimum associated with logarithmic temperature dependence in both longitudinal and Hall resistivities are observed in the underdoped Nd_1-xSr_xNiO₂ samples before the superconducting transition. At lower temperatures down to 0.04 K, the resistivities become saturated, following the prediction of the Kondo model. A linear scaling behavior [Formula: see text] between anomalous Hall conductivity [Formula: see text] and conductivity [Formula: see text]is revealed, verifying the dominant Kondo scattering at low temperature. The effect of weak (anti-)localization is found to be secondary. Our experiments can help in clarifying the basic physics in the underdoped Nd_1-xSr_xNiO₂ infinite-layer thin films.

Keywords: Kondo scattering; infinite-layer nickelate; superconductivity; thin film; underdoped.