Seven distinct families of superconductors with critical temperatures at ambient pressure that equal or surpass the historic 23 K limit for Nb3Ge have been discovered in the last 25 years. Each family is reviewed briefly and their common chemical features are discussed. High temperature superconductors are distinguished by having a high (\geq 50%) content of nonmetallic elements and fall into two broad classes. 'Metal-nonmetal' superconductors require a specific combination of elements such as Cu-O and Fe-As which give rise to the highest known Tc's, probably through a magnetic pairing mechanism. 'Nonmetal-bonded' materials contain covalently-bonded nonmetal anion networks and are BCS-like superconductors. Fitting an extreme value function to the distribution of Tc values for the known high-Tc families suggests that the probability of a newly discovered superconductor family having maximum Tc > 100 K is ~0.1-1%, decreasing to ~0.02-0.2% for room temperature superconductivity.
Over the past decade, a combination of crystal structure prediction techniques and experimental synthetic work has thoroughly explored the phase diagrams of binary hydrides under pressure. The fruitfulness of this dual approach is demonstrated in the recent identification of several superconducting hydrides with $T_c$s approaching room temperature. We start with an overview of the computational procedures for predicting stable structures and estimating their propensity for superconductivity. A survey of phases with high $T_c$ reveals some common structural features that appear conducive to the…
Following the idea that hydrogen-rich compounds might be high-T$_c$ superconductors at high pressures, and the very recent breakthrough in predicting and synthesizing hydrogen sulfide with record-high T$_c$ = 203 K, ab initio evolutionary algorithm for crystal structure prediction was employed to find stable germanium hydrides. In addition to the earlier structure of germane with space group Ama2, we propose a new C2/m structure, which is energetically more favorable at pressures above 278 GPa (with inclusion of zero point energy). Our calculations indicate metallicity of the new C2/m phase of…
Connections between crystal chemistry and critical temperature $T_c$ have been in the focus of superconductivity, one of the most widely studied phenomena in physics, chemistry and materials science alike. In most Fe-based superconductors, materials chemistry and physics conspire so that $T_c$ correlates with the average anion height above the Fe plane, i. e. with the geometry of the FeAs4 or FeCh4 (Ch = Te, Se, or S) tetrahedron. By synthesizing Fe$_{1-y}$Se$_{1-x}$S$_x$ (0$\leq$$x$$\leq$1, $y$$\leq$0.1), we find that in alloyed crystals $T_c$ is not correlated with the anion height like it i…
A long-standing problem of observing Room Temperature Superconductivity is finally solved by a novel approach. Instead of increasing the critical temperature Tc of a superconductor, the temperature of the room was decreased to an appropriate Tc value. We consider this approach more promising for obtaining a large number of materials possessing Room Temperature Superconductivity in the near future.
The long-sought goal of room-temperature superconductivity has reportedly recently been realized in a carbonaceous sulfur hydride compound under high pressure, as reported by Snider et al. [1]. The evidence presented in that paper is stronger than in other similar recent reports of high temperature superconductivity in hydrides under high pressure [2-7], and has been received with universal acclaim [8-10]. Here we point out that features of the experimental data shown in Ref. [1] indicate that the phenomenon observed in that material is not superconductivity. This observation calls into questi…
I briefly mention a previous claim of room temperature superconductivity ( arXiv:0905.3524) in Ag-based oxide material and compare their results with the most recent claim of ambient temperature superconductivity in arXiv:1807.08572. In both cases, an electrical transition to low resistance state and diamagnetism are observed. Silver is a common ingredient in both claims. Does it mean that silver holds the key to RT superconductivity or, the missing field cool data (in both reports) hint of some other physical phenomenon than superconductivity.
Defects in the atomic lattice of solids are sometimes desired. For example, atomic vacancies, single ones or more elaborated defective structures, can generate localized magnetic moments in a non magnetic crystalline lattice. Increasing their density to a few percent magnetic order can appear. Furthermore, certain two dimensional interfaces can give rise to localized superconductivity with a broad range of critical temperatures. Old and new experimental facts emphasize the need to join efforts to start using systematically "ordered defects" in solids to achieve room temperature superconductivi…
It is very important to elucidate the mechanism of superconductivity for achieving room temperature superconductivity. This paper is a short review article on the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity. In the first half of this paper, we give a brief review on mechanisms of superconductivity in many-electron systems. We believe that high-temperature superconductivity may occur in a system with interaction of large-energy scale. Empirically, this is true for superconductors that have been found so far. In the second half of this paper, we discuss cuprate high-temperature superconducto…
Cuprate high temperature superconductors consist of two quasi-two-dimensional (2D) substructures: CuO2 superconducting layers and charge reservoir layers. The superconductivity is realized by charge transfer from the charge reservoir layers into the superconducting layers without chemical dopants and defects being introduced into the latter, similar to modulation-doping in semiconductor superlattices of AlGaAs/GaAs. Inspired by this scheme, we have been searching for high temperature superconductivity in ultrathin films of superconductors epitaxially grown on semiconductor/oxide substrates sin…
Since the discovery of superconductivity at 200 K in H3S [1] similar or higher transition temperatures, Tcs, have been reported for various hydrogen-rich compounds under ultra-high pressures [2]. Superconductivity was experimentally proved by different methods, including electrical resistance, magnetic susceptibility, optical infrared, and nuclear resonant scattering measurements. The crystal structures of superconducting phases were determined by X-ray diffraction. Numerous electrical transport measurements demonstrate the typical behaviour of a conventional phonon-mediated superconductor: ze…
Superconductivity Induced in Iron Telluride Films by Low Temperature Oxygen Incorporation
我们报告的超导诱导膜的非超导，反铁磁母体材料FeTe的低温氧掺入在可逆的方式。X射线吸收表明，氧掺杂改变了名义Fe价态从2+在非超导状态，主要是3+在超导状态。因此，氧掺杂的FeTe中的超导性发生在与更常见的FeTe $_{1-x}$ Se $_x$完全不同的电荷和应变状态下。这项工作也提出了一个方便的路径进行掺杂实验原位与许多测量技术。
Can doping graphite trigger room temperature superconductivity? Evidence for granular high-temperature superconductivity in water-treated graphite powder
The cuprates and iron-based high-temperature superconductors share many common features: layered strongly anisotropic crystal structure, strong electronic correlations, interplay between different types of electronic ordering, the intrinsic spatial inhomogeneity due to doping. The understanding of complex interplay between these factors is crucial for a directed search of new high-temperature superconductors. Here we show the appearance of inhomogeneous gossamer superconductivity in bulk FeSe compound at ambient pressure and at temperature 5 times higher than its zero-resistance $T_c$. This di…
With a generic model for the electron-phonon spectral density, two simple expressions are derived to estimate the transition temperature and gap-to-temperature ratio in conventional superconductors. They entail that on average the numerical value of the phonon exchange factor, $λ$, is limited to 2.67, so that room temperature superconductivity may be attained only with a Debye temperature of about 1800 K or higher, in materials that may or may not involve hydrogen. They also show that a Be-Pb alloy may become a superconductor at $\sim$44 K.
The demonstration of a quasi-two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and superconducting properties in LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures has stimulated intense research activity in recent ten years. The 2DEG has unique properties that are promising for applications in all-oxide electronic devices. The superconductivity in such heterostructures has been observed below 300 mK. For superconductivity applications it is desirable to have more wide temperature of the existence range and the ability to control superconductivity properties by external stimulus. Based on first-principles calculations an…
Room temperature superconductivity has been the most prominent, highly ambitious, but still imaginable, acme of materials physics for half a century. The struggle toward this revolution was foreshadowed by a Victorian novelist and championed,unsuccessfully, by dogged physicists in the 1960s to 1980s who had a workable theory but uncompliant materials. Discovery of superconductivity of H$_3$S at 200 K in the 160-200 GPa pressure range has renewed anticipation of yet higher values of the critical temperature T$_c$. With the several reports of metalization of hydrogen, and theoretical extensions …
We investigate the role of specific phonon mode symmetries for the room temperature superconductivity in atomic hydrogen under large pressure. Using anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg theory with ab initio input from density functional theory, we show that the $E_u$ phonon modes are the dominant driving force for obtaining such high critical temperatures. When going from 400 to 600 GPa, we find an increased transition temperature, however, the total electron-phonon coupling strength is counterintuitively reduced. Our analysis reveals that this is due to an enhanced contribution to the coupling stre…
Superconductivity at temperatures up to 190 K at high pressures has recently been observed in $H_2S$ and interpreted as conventional BCS-electron-phonon-driven superconductivity.\cite{h2s} Instead we propose that it is another example of the mechanism of hole superconductivity at work. Within this mechanism high temperature superconductivity arises when holes conduct through negatively charged anions in close proximity. We propose that electron transfer from $H$ to $S$ leads to conduction by holes in a nearly full band arising from direct overlap of $S^=$ $p$ orbitals in a planar structure. Th…
We report high temperature superconductivity in one unit-cell (1-UC) FeSe films grown on STO(110) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. By in-situ scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurement, we observed a superconducting gap as large as 17 meV. Transport measurements on 1-UC FeSe/STO(110) capped with FeTe layers reveal superconductivity with an onset TC of 31.6 K and an upper critical magnetic field of 30.2 T. We also find that the TC can be further increased by an external electric field, but the effect is smaller than that on STO(001) substrate. The study points out the important roles of in…
Signatures of room-temperature superconductivity emerging in two-dimensional domains within the new Bi/Pb-based ceramic cuprate superconductors at ambient pressure
Magnetic measurements have been carried out in the superconducting and normal states of the optimally doped nonmagnetic bismuthate superconductor Ba0.63K0.37BiO3. The magnetic data along with previous muSR, resistivity, and tunneling data consistently show that there is a large polaronic enhancement in the density of states and effective electron-phonon coupling constant. The first-principle calculation within the density-functional theory indicates a small electron-phonon coupling constant of about 0.3-0.4, which can only lead to about 1 K superconductivity within the conventional phonon-medi…
We have shown that adiabatic electronic structure of superconducting phase of sulphur hydride at 200 GPa is unstable toward vibration motion of H-atoms. Theoretical study indicates that in coupling to H-vibrations, system undergoes transition from adiabatic into stabilised anti-adiabatic multi-gap superconducting state at temperature which can reach 203 K.
The recent observation of high-temperature superconductivity in one unit cell thick FeSe on SrTiO3 (1UC FeSe/STO)1 initiated a new pathway to realizing even higher transition temperature (Tc) superconductors and established a promising different paradigm to understand the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity2-10. However, independent confirmation on the high Tc value, the role of capping layer in reducing Tc, and the underlying mechanism of the novel superconductivity remain open questions11. Here we report a time-resolved study of the excited state ultrafast dynamics of 1UC FeSe/ST…
The search for new superconducting materials approaching room temperature benefits from having a variety of testing methodologies to confirm and characterize the presence of superconductivity. Often the first signatures of new superconducting species occur incompletely and in very small volume fractions. These trace amounts may be too weak to produce an observable Meissner effect and the resistance may not go completely to zero if the percolation threshold is not met. Under these conditions, secondary behavior--such as transitions or cross overs in the temperature dependence of magnetoresistan…
