Low-energy electrodynamics of infinite-layer nickelates: evidence for d-wave superconductivity in the dirty limit

The discovery of superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates establishes a new category of unconventional superconductors that share structural and electronic similarities with cuprates. Despite exciting advances, such as the establishment of a cuprate-like phase diagram and the observation of charge order and short-range antiferromagnetic fluctuation, the key issues of superconducting pairing symmetry, gap amplitude, and superconducting fluctuation remain elusive. In this work, we utilize static and ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy to address these outstanding problems. We demonstrate that the equilibrium terahertz conductivity and nonequilibrium terahertz responses of an optimally Sr-doped nickelate film ($T_c$ = 17 K) are in line with the electrodynamics of $d$-wave superconductivity in the dirty limit. The gap-to-$T_c$ ratio 2$Δ/k_\mathrm{B}T_\mathrm{c}$ is extracted to be 3.4, indicating the superconductivity falls in the weak-coupling regime. In addition, we observed significant superconducting fluctuation near $T_\mathrm{c}$, while it does not extend into the deep normal state as optimally hole-doped cuprates. Our result highlights a new $d$-wave system which closely resembles the electron-doped cuprates, expanding the family of unconventional superconductivity in oxides.

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