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Superconductivity in Monolayer-Trilayer Phase of La3Ni2O7 under High Pressure

Chaoxin Huang1,*, Jingyuan Li1,*, Xing Huang2, Hengyuan Zhang1, Deyuan Hu1, Mengwu Huo1, Xiang Chen1, Zhen Chen2,3, Hualei Sun4,† et al.

Meng Wang1,‡

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: sunhlei@mail.sysu.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: wangmeng5@mail.sysu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. X 16, 031072 – Published 17 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jc35-gj2l

Abstract

The discovery of 80 K superconductivity in pressurized bilayer Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) nickelate La3Ni2O7 has established a new high-temperature superconductor family [1]. The quest to understand the governing principles of RP nickelate superconductivity has become a central focus in condensed matter physics. Here, we report a critical advance by synthesizing and investigating a distinct structural polymorph of the same compound: the monolayer-trilayer (1313) phase of La3Ni2O7. Under high pressure, synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy reveal a structural transition from the orthorhombic Cmmm to the tetragonal P4/mmm space group at 13 GPa. Above 19 GPa, the phase shows a clear superconducting transition, confirmed by a zero-resistance state, albeit at a much lower temperature of 3.6 K. The stark contrast with the 80 K transition in the bilayer phase provides a uniquely clean experimental comparison. Our results not only expand the family of RP nickelate superconductors but also deepen the understanding of the superconducting mechanism that governs the transition temperature in these materials.

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Popular Summary

Identifying which structural motifs drive high transition temperatures in Ruddlesden-Popper nickelate superconductors remains difficult because distinguishing the role of interlayer coupling from chemical stoichiometry is challenging. We synthesized high-purity single crystals of the monolayer-trilayer alternating 1313 polymorph of La3Ni2O7 to examine how altering layer stacking affects superconducting properties under pressure.

We observed an orthorhombic-to-tetragonal structural transition near 13 GPa, followed by the onset of superconductivity above 19 GPa with a critical temperature of Tc=3.6  K, significantly lower than the 80 K observed in the bilayer phase. This drastic reduction in Tc between chemically identical polymorphs demonstrates that intact coupled bilayer motifs are crucial for stabilizing high-temperature pairing states in layered nickelates. Our work provides structural design rules linking interlayer correlations to transition temperatures, guiding the discovery of high-Tc nickelate phases.

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References (57)

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Phys. Rev. X 16, 031072– Published 17 September, 2026
  • Received 18 May 2026
  • Revised 28 July 2026
  • Accepted 20 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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