Imaging stripe dynamics in trilayer nickelate La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$

Abstract

Since the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in nickelate superconductors, it is an open question how closely the superconducting state resembles that of cuprate superconductors. One salient feature of the phase diagram of the high-temperature cuprate superconductors is stripe order. Despite their prevalence, real-space imaging has been limited to the charge sector. Here we use spin-polarised scanning tunnelling microscopy to visualize the local magnetic and charge distribution emerging due to a stripe order in the trilayer nickelate La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$. The stripe order exhibits a four unit cell periodicity, closely resembling that seen in cuprates, and opens a near-complete $\sim66\mathrm{meV}$ gap at the Fermi level. Crucially, discrete phase slips can be triggered by tunneling electrons above a $\sim 20\mathrm{meV}$ threshold, allowing imaging of stripe dynamics at the atomic scale. These results highlight the importance of correlation physics driving stripe-like orders in lanthanum nickelates with striking similarities to the cuprates.