Multiorbital Anisotropy and Magnetic Excitations in Trilayer Nickelate Pr4Ni3O10
Abstract
Rare-earth substitution strongly modifies the structure, metallicity, and superconducting behavior of Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) nickelates, but its impact on their magnetic interactions remains unclear. Here, we combine x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to resolve the multiorbital electronic structure and magnetic excitations of Pr4Ni3O10. The absence of an overlapping rare-earth resonance provides direct access to the Ni L3 edge, while polarization-dependent measurements at the Ni L- and O K-edges resolve distinct planar and out-of-plane Ni-O hybridization channels. Momentum-resolved RIXS reveals dispersive magnetic excitations that soften toward the incommensurate spin-density-wave wave vector. An effective spin-wave analysis yields a sizable intra-trilayer exchange coupling, comparable to the leading in-plane interactions and robust against rare-earth substitution. Our results identify the multilayer architecture, rather than rare-earth substitution alone, as a key control knob of the magnetic interactions in these materials.
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BibTeX
@misc{guan2026multiorbital,
title = {{Multiorbital Anisotropy and Magnetic Excitations in Trilayer Nickelate Pr$_4$Ni$_3$O$_10$}},
author = {Ziqiang Guan and Sophia F. R. TenHuisen and Xuefei Guo and Wei He and Aulden K. Jones and Marli dos Reis Cantarino and Xinglong Chen and Hong Zheng and J. F. Mitchell and Nicholas B. Brookes and Mark P. M. Dean and Matteo Mitrano},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.09210},
eprint = {2610.09210},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.09210},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Multiorbital Anisotropy and Magnetic Excitations in Trilayer Nickelate Pr_4Ni_3O_10
AU - Ziqiang Guan
AU - Sophia F. R. TenHuisen
AU - Xuefei Guo
AU - Wei He
AU - Aulden K. Jones
AU - Marli dos Reis Cantarino
AU - Xinglong Chen
AU - Hong Zheng
AU - J. F. Mitchell
AU - Nicholas B. Brookes
AU - Mark P. M. Dean
AU - Matteo Mitrano
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.09210
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.09210
AB - Rare-earth substitution strongly modifies the structure, metallicity, and superconducting behavior of Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) nickelates, but its impact on their magnetic interactions remains unclear. Here, we combine x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to resolve the multiorbital electronic structure and magnetic excitations of Pr_4Ni_3O_10. The absence of an overlapping rare-earth resonance provides direct access to the Ni L_3 edge, while polarization-dependent measurements at the Ni L- and O K-edges resolve distinct planar and out-of-plane Ni-O hybridization channels. Momentum-resolved RIXS reveals dispersive magnetic excitations that soften toward the incommensurate spin-density-wave wave vector. An effective spin-wave analysis yields a sizable intra-trilayer exchange coupling, comparable to the leading in-plane interactions and robust against rare-earth substitution. Our results identify the multilayer architecture, rather than rare-earth substitution alone, as a key control knob of the magnetic interactions in these materials.
ER -