Oxygen exhibits structural phase transformation from non-metallic $ε$-O2 phase into metallic $ζ$-O2 phase at pressure of P = 96 GPa (Desgreniers et al 1990 J. Phys. Chem. 94 1117; Akahama et al 1995 Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 4690). Metallic $ζ$-O2 phase is a superconductor with transition temperature of Tc = 0.6 K at P = 115-120 GPa (Shimizu et al 1998 Nature 393 767). In this paper we have performed analysis of temperature dependent upper critical field, Bc2(T), for $ζ$-O2 phase (P = 115 GPa) and show that this highly-compressed phase of gaseous molecular element is unconventional superconductor with the ratio of Tc to the Fermi temperature, Tf, in the range of 0.009 < Tc/Tf < 0.108.
A15 Nb$_3$Si is, until now, the only high temperature superconductor produced at high pressure (~110 GPa) that has been successfully brought back to room pressure conditions in a metastable condition. Based on the current great interest in trying to create metastable-at-room-pressure high temperature superconductors produced at high pressure, we have restudied explosively compressed A15 Nb$_3$Si and its production from tetragonal Nb$_3$Si. First, diamond anvil cell pressure measurements up to 88 GPa were performed on explosively compressed A15 Nb$_3$Si material to trace Tc as a function of pre…
While great scientific efforts focus on the synthesis and studies of near-room-temperature (NRT) superconductors exhibited record superconducting transition temperatures (for instance, laser annealed H3S, LaH10 and YHn (n = 4,6,7,9) with Tc > 200 K), unannealed low-Tc counterparts of NRT superconductors stay in the background. However, the formers are part of hydrogen-rich superconductors family and the success in understanding of NRT superconductivity depends on the study of these materials too. In this paper we analyse experimental temperature dependent upper critical field data, Bc2(T), rep…
The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in compressed H3S by Drozdov and co-workers (A. Drozdov, et. al., Nature 525, 73 (2015)) heralded a new era in superconductivity. To date, the record transition temperature of Tc = 260 K stands with another hydrogen-rich compound, LaH10 (M. Somayazulu, et. al., arXiv:1808.07695) which becomes superconducting at pressure of P = 190 GPa. Despite very intensive first-principle theoretical studies of hydrogen-rich compounds compressed to megabar level pressure, there is a very limited experimental dataset available for such materials. In this pap…
Binary hydrides formed by the pnictogens of phosphorus, arsenic and antimony are studied at high pressures using first principles methods. Stable structures are predicted and their electronic, vibrational and superconducting properties are investigated. We predict that SbH$_{4}$ and AsH$_{8}$ will be high-temperature superconductors at megabar pressures, with critical temperatures in excess of 100 K. The highly symmetric hexagonal SbH$_{4}$ phase is predicted to be stabilized above about 150 GPa, which is readily achievable in diamond anvil cell experiments. We find that all phosphorus hydride…
Recently, the discovery of room-temperature superconductivity (SC) was experimentally realized in the fcc phase of LaH$_{10}$ under megabar pressures. This SC of compressed LaH$_{10}$ has been explained in terms of strong electron-phonon coupling (EPC), but the mechanism of how the large EPC constant and high superconducting transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$ are attained has not yet been clearly identified. Based on the density-functional theory and the Migdal-Eliashberg formalism, we reveal the presence of two nodeless, anisotropic superconducting gaps on the Fermi surface (FS). Here, the sm…
The 2014-2015 prediction, discovery, and confirmation of record high temperature superconductivity above 200K in H$_3$S, followed by the 2018 extension to superconductivity in the 250-280K range in lanthanum hydride, marks a new era in the longstanding quest for room temperature superconductivity: quest achieved, at the cost of supplying 1.5-2 megabars of pressure. Predictions of numerous high temperature superconducting metal hydrides $XH_n$ ($X$=metal) have appeared, but are providing limited understanding of what drives the high transition temperature T$_c$, or what limits T$_c$. We apply a…
Recent discovery of high-temperature superconductivity (Tc = 190 K) in sulfur hydrides at megabar pressures breaks the traditional belief on the Tc limit of 40 K for conventional superconductors, and open up the doors in searching new high-temperature superconductors in compounds made up of light elements. Selenium is a sister and isoelectronic element of sulfur, with a larger atomic core and a weaker electronegativity. Whether selenium hydrides share similar high-temperature superconductivity remains elusive, but it is a subject of considerable interest. First-principles swarm structure predi…
The era of near-room-temperature superconductivity started after experimental discovery by Drozdov et al (2015 Nature 525 73) who found that compressed H3S exhibits superconducting transition at Tc = 203 K. To date, the record near-room-temperature superconductivity stands with another hydrogen-rich highly compressed compound, LaH10 (Somayazulu et al 2019 Phys. Rev. Lett. 122 027001), which has critical temperature of Tc>240 K. In this paper, we analyse available upper critical field, Bc2(T), data for LaH10 (Drozdov et al 2019 Nature 569 528) and report that this compound in all considered sce…
Recently, Snider et al (2020 Nature 586 373) reported on the observation of superconductivity in highly-compressed carbonaceous sulfur hydride, $H_x$$(S,C)_y$. The highest critical temperature in $H_x$$(S,C)_y$ by 5 K exceeds previous record of Tc = 280 K reported by Somayazulu et al (2019 Phys. Rev. Lett. 122 027001) for highly-compressed $La$$H_{10}$. In this paper we analyze experimental temperature dependent magnetoresistance data, R(T,B), reported by Snider et al. The analysis shows that $H_x$$(S,C)_y$ compound exhibited Tc = 190 K (P = 210 GPa) has the electron-phonon coupling constant $…
The recent discovery of superconductivity in hexagonal iron under pressure poses a question about whether it is of conventional (phonon) or unconventional (magnetic?) origin. We present first-principles calculations of the electron-phonon coupling in iron at $P\agt 15$ GPa, and argue that a conventional mechanism can explain the appearance of superconductivity, but not its rapid disappearance at $P\agt 30$ GPa. We suggest that spin fluctuations, ferro- and/or antiferromagnetic, play a crucial role in superconductivity in this case.
Recently, the discovery of room-temperature superconductivity (SC) was experimentally realized in the fcc phase of LaH$_{10}$ under megabar pressure. Specifically, the isotope effect of $T_{\rm c}$ was measured by the replacement of hydrogen (H) with deuterium (D), demonstrating a driving role of phonons in the observed room-temperature SC. Herein, based on the first-principles calculations within the harmonic approximation, we reveal that (i) the identical electron-phonon coupling constants of fcc LaH$_{10}$ and LaD$_{10}$ decrease monotonously with increasing pressure and (ii) the isotope ef…
The measurement of superconductivity at above 200K in compressed samples of hydrogen sulfide and lanthanum hydride at 250K is reinvigorating the search for conventional high temperature superconductors. At the same time it exposes a fascinating interplay between theory, computation and experiment. Conventional superconductivity is well understood, and theoretical tools are available for accurate predictions of the superconducting critical temperature. These predictions depend on knowing the microscopic structure of the material under consideration, and can now be provided through computational…
We examine the effects of the low-level substitution of S atoms by C and Si atoms on the superconductivity of H$_3$S with the $Im\bar{3}m$ structure at megabar pressure. The hole doping can fine-tune the Fermi energy to reach the electronic density-of-states peak maximizing the electron-phonon coupling. This can boost the critical temperature from the original 203 K to 289 K and 283 K, respectively, for H$_3$S$_{0.962}$C$_{0.038}$ at 260 GPa and H$_3$S$_{0.960}$Si$_{0.040}$ at 230 GPa. The former may provide an explanation for the recent experimental observation of room-temperature superconduc…
The recently discovered cuprate superconductor Ba$_2$CuO$_{3+δ}$ exhibits a high $T_c\simeq73$K at $δ\simeq0.2$. The polycrystal grown under high pressure has a structure similar to La$_2$CuO$_4$, but with dramatically different lattice parameters due to the CuO$_6$ octahedron compression. The crystal field in the compressed Ba$_2$CuO$_4$ leads to an inverted Cu $3d$ $e_g$ complex with the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital sitting below the $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ and an electronic structure highly unusual compared to the conventional cuprates. We construct a two-orbital Hubbard model for the Cu $d^9$ state at hol…
Experimental discovery that compressed sulphur hydride exhibits superconducting transition temperature Tc=203 K (Drozdov et al 2015 Nature 525 73) sparked intensive studies of superconducting hydrides. However, this discovery was not a straight forward experimental examination of theoretically predicted phase, instead it was nearly five-decade long experimental quest for superconductivity in highly-compressed matters, which varied from pure elements (hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, lithium), cuprates, and hydrides (SiH4, YH3, and AlH3), to semiconductors and ionic salts. One of these salts was cesi…
Satterthwaite and Toepke (1970 Phys. Rev. Lett. 25 741) predicted high-temperature superconductivity in hydrogen-rich metallic alloys, based on an idea that these compounds should exhibit high Debye frequency of the proton lattice, which boosts the superconducting transition temperature, Tc. The idea has got full confirmation more than four decades later when Drozdov et al (2015 Nature 525 73) experimentally discovered near-room-temperature superconductivity in highly-compressed sulphur superhydride, H3S. To date, more than a dozen of high-temperature hydrogen-rich superconducting phases in Ba…
Observation of high-temperature superconductivity in sulfur hydrides at megabar pressures has generated an irresistible wave on searching for new superconductors in other compressed hydrogen-rich compounds. An immediate effort is towards exploration of the relevant candidate of tellurium hydrides, where tellurium is isoelectronic to sulfur but it has a heavier atomic mass and much weaker electronegativity. The hitherto unknown phase diagram of tellurium hydrides at high pressures was investigated by a first-principles swarm structure search. Four energetically stable and metallic stoichiometri…
The successful application of the electron-phonon interaction (EPI) mechanism in formulating the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity is among the most outstanding intellectual achievements in theoretical physics because of the successful application of the theory to the conventional superconducting materials. Therefore, its unsuccessful application to the nonconventional superconducting materials has led to the search for new theories which generalized it, include an interplay with other mechanisms or are formulated from non - EPI mechanisms. We observe in this current …
The recent discovery of superconductivity (SC) and charge density wave (CDW) in kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) provides an ideal playground for the study of emergent electronic orders. Application of moderate pressure leads to a two-dome-shaped SC phase regime in CsV3Sb5 accompanied by the destabilizing of CDW phase; such unconventional evolution of SC may involve the pressure-induced formation of a new stripe-like CDW order resembling that in La-214 cuprate superconductors. Nonetheless, the nature of this pressure-tuned SC state and its interplay with the stripe order are yet to be expl…
Enhanced and robust superconductivity in La0.8Sr0.2NiO2 membranes compressed up to 210 GPa
Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research（高压科学先进研究中心）；National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University（南京大学工程与应用科学学院，固态微结构国家重点实验室，江苏省人工功能材料重点实验室）；Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院物理研究所）；Shanghai Key Laboratory of Material Frontiers Research in Extreme Environments, Shanghai Advanced Research in Physical Sciences（上海极端环境材料前沿研究重点实验室，上海物理科学研究院）；Jiangsu Physical Science Research Center（江苏物理科学研究中心）
The uniquely characteristic macrostructures of binary hydrogen-clathrate compounds $M$H$_\textrm{n}$ formed at high pressure, a cage of hydrogens surrounding a central-atom host, is theoretically predicted in various studies to include structurally stable phonon-mediated superconductors. High superconductive transition temperatures $T$$_\textrm{C}$ have thus far been measured for syntheses with $M$ = La, Y, and Th. In compressed LaH$_\textrm{10}$, independent studies report $T$$_\textrm{C}$ of 250 K and over 260 K, a maximum in $T$$_\textrm{C}$ with pressure $P$, and normal-state resistance sc…
Upon thermal annealing at or above room temperature (RT) and high pressure $\it P$ $\sim$ 155 GPa, H$_3$S exhibits superconductivity at $\it T_C$ $\sim$ 200 K. Various theoretical frameworks with strong electron-phonon coupling and Coulomb repulsion have reproduced this record-level $\it T_C$. Of particular relevance is that observed H-D isotopic correlations among $\it T_C$, $\it P$, and annealed order indicate limitations on the H-D isotope effect, leaving open for consideration unconventional high-$\it T_C$ superconductivity with electronic-based enhancements. The present work examines Coul…
Recently, Troyan et al (2019 arXiv:1908.01534) and Kong et al (2019 arXiv:1909.10482) extended near-room-temperature superconductors family by new yttrium superhydride polymorphs, YHn (n = 4,6,7,9), which exhibit superconducting transition temperatures in the range of Tc = 210-243 K at pressure of P = 160-255 GPa. In this paper, temperature dependent upper critical field data, Bc2(T), for highly-compressed mixture of YH4+YH6 phases (reported by Kong et al 2019 arXiv:1909.10482) is analysed to deduce the ratio of Tc to the Fermi temperature, Tf. Our analysis shows that in all considered scenari…
Satterthwaite and Toepke (1970 Phys. Rev. Lett. 25 741) discovered that Th4H15-Th4D15 superhydrides are superconducting but exhibit no isotope effect. As the isotope effect is a fundamental prediction of electron-phonon mediated superconductivity described by Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer (BCS) its absence alludes to some other mechanism. Soon after this work, Stritzker and Buckel (1972 Zeitschrift für Physik A Hadrons and nuclei 257 1-8) reported that superconductors in the PdHx-PdDx system exhibit the reverse isotope effect. Yussouff et al (1995 Solid State Communications 94 549) extended …
A-15 type superconducting hydride $La_4H_{23}$: Nanograined structure with low strain, strong electron-phonon interaction, and moderate level of nonadiabaticity
