S± -Wave Pairing and the Destructive Role of Apical-Oxygen Deficiencies in La3Ni2 O7 under Pressure

Recently, the bilayer perovskite nickelate La3Ni2O7 has been reported to show evidence of high-temperature superconductivity (SC) under a moderate pressure of about 14 GPa. To investigate the superconducting mechanism, pairing symmetry, and the role of apical-oxygen deficiencies in this material, we perform a random-phase approximation based study on a bilayer model consisting of the dx2-y2 and d3z2-r2 orbitals of Ni atoms in both the pristine crystal and the crystal with apical-oxygen deficiencies. Our analysis reveals an s±-wave pairing symmetry driven by spin fluctuations. The crucial role of pressure lies in that it induces the emergence of the γ pocket, which is involved in the strongest Fermi-surface nesting. We further found the emergence of local moments in the vicinity of apical-oxygen deficiencies, which significantly suppresses the Tc. Therefore, it is possible to significantly enhance the Tc by eliminating oxygen deficiencies during the synthesis of the samples.