s±-Wave Pairing and the Destructive Role of Apical-Oxygen Deficiencies in La3Ni2O7 under Pressure

Recently, the bilayer perovskite nickelate ${\mathrm{La}}_{3}{\mathrm{Ni}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}$ 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 ${d}_{{x}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{y}^{2}}$ and ${d}_{3{z}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{r}^{2}}$ orbitals of Ni atoms in both the pristine crystal and the crystal with apical-oxygen deficiencies. Our analysis reveals an ${s}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$-wave pairing symmetry driven by spin fluctuations. The crucial role of pressure lies in that it induces the emergence of the $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ 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 ${T}_{c}$. Therefore, it is possible to significantly enhance the ${T}_{c}$ by eliminating oxygen deficiencies during the synthesis of the samples.