Abstract
Unconventional charge- and spin-density-wave states are commonly observed in bilayer nickelates, drawing considerable attention due to their proximity to high-transition temperature (\({T}_{{\rm{c}}}\)) superconductivity. However, the nature and origin of these density waves remain poorly understood. Experiments show that the charge-density-wave and spin-density-wave transition temperatures are closely related but distinct, while mean-field-type analyses typically have yielded only a simple spin-density-wave phase. To resolve this key problem, this paper demonstrates that sizeable charge-density-wave instabilities emerge in proportion to spin-density-wave instabilities in La3Ni2O7 due to the paramagnon-interference mechanism, which captures electron correlations beyond mean-field theories. Therefore, (i) the experimental charge- and spin-density-wave coexisting state is naturally explained, and (ii) charge- and spin-density-wave fluctuations cooperatively drive high-\({T}_{{\rm{c}}}\) superconductivity. Furthermore, the predicted s-wave superconducting state is robust against the inner-apical oxygen vacancies. We find that the coexistence of charge- and spin-fluctuations is essential in bilayer nickelates, with both playing a cooperative role in mediating high-\({T}_{{\rm{c}}}\) superconductivity.
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Relevant data supporting the key findings of this study are available within the article and the Supplementary Information file. All raw data generated during the current study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to T. Shibauchi, K. Hashimoto, K. Kuroki, and F. Sakakibara for fruitful discussions. This study has been supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from MEXT of Japan (JP24K00568, JP24K06938, JP23K03299), Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (KAKENHI Grant No. JP25KJ1420), and Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) “Correlation Design Science” (KAKENHI Grant No. JP25H01246 and JP25H01248) from JSPS of Japan.
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D.I. executed the calculations in discussion with Y.Y., S.O. and H.K., and D.I and H.K. contributed to writing the paper.
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Inoue, D., Yamakawa, Y., Onari, S. et al. Unified mechanism of charge-density-wave and high-Tc superconductivity protected from oxygen vacancies in bilayer nickelates. Commun Phys (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-026-02511-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-026-02511-z
