Unconventional superconductivity without doping: infinite-layer nickelates under pressure

Abstract

High-temperature unconventional superconductivity quite generically emerges from doping a strongly correlated parent compound, often (close to) an antiferromagnetic insulator. The recently developed dynamical vertex approximation is a state-of-the-art technique that has quantitatively predicted the superconducting dome of nickelates. Here, we apply it to study the effect of pressure in the infinite-layer nickelate Sr$_x$Pr$_ {1-x}$NiO$_2$. We reproduce the increase of the critical temperature ($T_c$) under pressure found in experiment up to 12 GPa. According to our results, $T_c$ can be further increased with higher pressures. Even without Sr-doping the parent compound, PrNiO$_2$, will become a high-temperature superconductor thanks to a strongly enhanced self-doping of the \nidxsqysq{} orbital under pressure. With a maximal \Tc{} of 100\,K around 100\,GPa, nickelate superconductors can reach that of the best cuprates.