Search

We investigated the pressure effects of a superconductivity on thin films of Sn. Elemental superconductor Sn with a body-centered tetragonal structure, $\beta$-Sn, exhibits superconductivity below the superconducting transition temperature ($T_{\rm c}=3.72$ K) at ambient pressure. $T_{\rm c}$ of Sn increases with lowering dimension such as in thin film and nanowire growth, or by high-pressure application. For thin films, $T_{\rm c}$ exhibits a slight increase up to approximately 4 K compared to the bulk value, attributable to the crystalline size and lattice disorder. By applying pressure on a bulk Sn, $T_{\rm c}$ decreases with increasing pressure from 3.72 K to 5.3 K with the structural transformation into $\gamma$-Sn around 10 GPa. However, the combination of these effects on thin films of Sn, namely, thin-film growth and pressure effects, remains underexplored. In this study, we combined film-growth and pressure-application techniques to further increase $T_{\rm c}$ using a diamond anvil cell with boron-doped diamond electrodes. The drop of the electrical resistance suggesting the onset of $T_{\rm c}$ on the thin film reached above 6 K in $\gamma$-Sn phase. Further, the upper critical magnetic field was drastically enhanced. Atomic force microscopy suggests that the refinement of the grain size of the thin film under the non-hydrostatic pressure conditions contributes to stabilizing the higher $T_{\rm c}$ of $\gamma$-Sn.

We proposed a new method for synthesis of metal polyhydrides via high-pressure thermal decomposition of corresponding amidoboranes in diamond anvil cells. Within this approach, we synthesized molecular semiconducting cesium ($\textit P4/nmm$-CsH$_7$, $\textit P$1-CsH$_{15+x}$) and rubidium (RbH$_{9-x}$) polyhydrides with a very high hydrogen content reaching 93 at%. Preservation of CsH$_7$ at near ambient conditions, confirmed both experimentally and theoretically, represents a significant advance in the stabilization of hydrogen-rich compounds. In addition, we synthesized two crystal modifications of RbH$_{9-x}$ with pseudo hexagonal and pseudo tetragonal structures identified by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Raman measurements. Both phases are stable at 8-10 GPa. This is an unprecedented low stabilization pressure for polyhydrides. These discoveries open up possibilities for modifying existing hydrogen storage materials to increase their efficiency.

This paper examines the micro-parameters of superconductors. It studies the modulations from weak van der Waals interaction to strong covalence bonding of superconductors. In particular, we studied layered black phosphorus (BP) as a function of pressure. These results reveal a rich scenario of phase transitions and related quantum phenomena, which show that the phases exhibit superconducting states at a pressure higher than 5.0 GPa. In addition, they indicate an angle-dependent upper critical field that demonstrates the dimensional characteristics of superconductivities. This result suggests that the A17 and cubic phases are three-dimensional (3D). The A7 phase shows a two-dimensional (2D) character. The 2D behavior is related to a weakened, distorted, entangled interlayer coupling.

The discovery of clathrate superhydrides has approached the long-standing dream of room-temperature superconductivity and thus inspired their prosperous research under high pressure. However, how to experimentally optimize these compelling superhydrides is still a formidable challenge. Here, we find that half of the Ce atoms in the recently discovered hexagonal close packed (hcp) CeH9 structure can be randomly replaced by adjacent La, resulting in the formation of LaH9 unit that is impossible in a binary system. Our experiments show that hcp (La, Ce)H9 can be synthesized at ~110 GPa and possesses a maximum Tc of 178 K at higher pressure, which is evidenced by in-situ X-ray diffraction and electronic transport measurement where a sharp drop of resistivity to zero and a characteristic decrease of Tc under a magnetic field up to 9 T. More importantly, the Tc of (La, Ce)H9 is significantly increased by ~50-80 K compared to CeH9, showing the hitherto highest Tc at megabar pressure. Our experimental results not only verify the feasibility of improving the superconductivity of hydrides by introducing other suitable metals, but also provide important inspiration for finding high-Tc superconductors in various multinary superhydrides.

Polyhydrides are a novel class of superconducting materials with extremely high critical parameters, which is very promising for applications. On the other hand, complete experimental study of the magnetic phase diagram for the best so far known superconductor, lanthanum decahydride LaH$_{10}$, encounters a serious complication because of the large upper critical magnetic field $\textit{H}$$_{C2}$(0), exceeding 120-160 T. Partial replacement of La atoms by magnetic Nd atoms results in a decrease of the upper critical field, which makes it attainable for existing pulse magnets. We found that addition of neodymium leads to significant suppression of superconductivity in LaH$_{10}$: each atomic % of Nd causes decrease in $\textit{T}$$_{C}$ by 10-11 K. Using strong pulsed magnetic fields up to 68 T, we constructed the magnetic phase diagram of the ternary (La,Nd)H$_{10}$ superhydride, which appears to be surprisingly linear with $\textit{H}$$_{C2}$ $\propto$ |$\textit{T}$ - $\textit{T}$$_C$|. The pronounced suppression of superconductivity in LaH$_{10}$ by magnetic Nd atoms and the robustness of $\textit{T}$$_C$ with respect to nonmagnetic impurities (e.g., Y, Al, C) under Anderson's theorem indicate the isotropic ($\textit{s}$-wave) character of conventional electron-phonon pairing in the synthesized superhydrides., Comment: Supporting Information is included

A diamond anvil cell (DAC) which can generate extremely high pressure of multi-megabar is promising tool to develop a further physics such a high-transition temperature superconductivity. However, electrical transport measurements, which is one of the most important properties of such functional materials, using the DAC is quite difficult because the sample space is very small and a deformation of electrodes under extreme condition. In this study, we fabricated a boron-doped diamond micro-electrode and an undoped diamond insulation on a beveled culet surface of the diamond anvil. By using the developed DAC, we demonstrated the electrical transport measurements for sulfur hydride H$_2$S which known as a pressure-induced high-transition temperature superconducting H$_3$S at high pressure. The measurements were successfully conducted under high pressure up to 192 GPa, and then a multi-step superconducting transition composed from pure sulfur and some kinds of surfer hydrides, which is possible HS$_2$, was observed with zero resistance.

We report the XRD and Raman scattering measurements in combination with DFT calculations that reveal the formation of beryllium polyhydride Be4H8(H2)2 by laser heating Be/H2 mixture to above 1700 K at pressures between 5 GPa and 8 GPa. The Be4H8(H2)2 crystallizes in a P6_3/mmc structure and consists of corner-sharing BeH4 tetrahedrons and H2 molecules that are in an interstitial site. The Be4H8(H2)2 is stable at least to 14 GPa on compression and stable down to 4 GPa at room temperature. Our ab-initio calculations suggest that the Be4H8(H2)2 is a meta-stable phase of Be-H system.

Superconductive H3S synthesized from H2S is very poorly crystallized, and has excess sulfur as impurity (3H2S -> 2H3S + S). The phase transition process undergoes in sulfur excess condition, which might cause hydrogen deficiency. The influence of hydrogen deficiency is not clear. Therefore investigation on the superconductivity in H3S with no hydrogen deficiency is demanded. Two groups performed synthesis of H3S from elemental sulfur and hydrogen (direct synthesis) and their results have shown that no hydrogen deficiency is caused when the direct synthesis is performed under hydrogen excessive condition. However, no measurements of superconductivity has been carried out because of the major technical difficulties in hydrogen experiments in diamond anvil cells (DACs). Here, we report the first electrical resistance measurements in superconductive H3S synthesized from elemental sulfur and hydrogen (3H2 + 2S -> 2H3S). Our powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) using a synchrotron X-ray revealed that synthesized H3S has much improved crystalline quality and no sulfur as reported in previous works. We observed a superconducting transition with a sharp drop of the resistance at Tonset = 200 K and we obtained the highest Toffset of 186 K in S-H system., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We present materials informatics approach to search for superconducting hydrogen compounds, which is based on a genetic algorithm and a genetic programming. This method consists of four stages: (i) search for stable crystal structures of materials by a genetic algorithm, (ii) collection of physical and chemical property data by first-principles calculations, (iii) development of superconductivity predictor based on the database by a genetic programming, and (iv) discovery of potential candidates by regression analysis. By repeatedly performing the process as (i) $\rightarrow$ (ii) $\rightarrow$ (iii) $\rightarrow$ (iv) $\rightarrow$ (i) $\rightarrow$ $\dots$, the superconductivity of the discovered candidates is validated by first-principles calculations, and the database and predictor are further improved, which leads to an efficient search for superconducting materials. We applied this method to hypothetical ternary hydrogen compounds and predicted KScH$_{12}$ with a modulated hydrogen cage showing the superconducting critical temperature of 122 K at 300 GPa and GaAsH$_{6}$ showing 98 K at 180 GPa.

X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering measurements, and first-principles calculations are performed to search for the formation of NaCl-hydrogen compound. When NaCl and H$_{2}$ mixture is laser-heated to above 1500 K at pressures exceeding 40 GPa, we observed the formation of NaClH$_{\textit{x}}$ with $\textit{P}$6$_{3}$/$\textit{mmc}$ structure which accommodates H$_{2}$ molecules in the interstitial sites of NaCl lattice forming ABAC stacking. Upon the decrease of pressure at 300 K, NaClH$_\textit{x}$ remains stable down to 17 GPa. Our calculations suggest the observed NaClH$_{\textit{x}}$ is NaCl(H$_{2}$). Besides, a hydrogen-richer phase NaCl(H$_{2}$)$_{4}$ is predicted to become stable at pressures above 40 GPa.

We report the temperature dependence of the upper critical fields $\mu_0H_{c2}(T)$ of the high temperature superconductor H$_3$S under applied pressures of 155 and 160 GPa through the electrical resistance transition observed under DC and pulsed magnetic fields up to 65 T, a record high combination of fields and pressures. We find that $H_{c2}(T)$ generally follows the Werthamer, Helfand and Hohenberg (WHH) formalism at low fields, albeit with noticeable deviations upon approaching our experimental limit of $\mu_0H = 65$ T. In fact, $H_{c2}(T)$ displays a remarkably linear dependence on temperature over an extended temperature range also found in multigap or in strongly-coupled superconductors. The best fit of $H_{c2}(T)$ to the WHH formula yields a negligible value for the Maki parameter $\alpha$ and for spin-orbit scattering constant $\lambda_{\text{SO}}$. However, its behavior is relatively well-described by a model based on strong coupling superconductivity with a coupling constant $\lambda \sim 2$. Therefore, we conclude that H$_3$S behaves as a strong-coupled orbital-limited superconductor over the entire range of temperatures and fields used for our measurements., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We report the ac magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistance, and X-ray diffraction measurements of platinum hydride (PtHx) in diamond anvil cells, which reveal its superconducting transition. At 32 GPa, when PtHx is in a P63/mmc structure, PtHx exhibits superconducting transition at 6.7 K and superconducting transition temperature (Tc) decreases with pressure to 4.8 K at 36 GPa. The observed T c is higher than that of powdered Pt by more than three orders of magnitude. It is suggested that hydrides of noble metals have higher Tc than the elements.

The recent reports on 203 K superconductivity in compressed hydrogen sulfide, H$_3$S, has attracted great interest in sulfur-hydrogen system under high pressure. Here, we investigated the superconductivity of P-doped and Cl-doped H$_3$S using the first-principles calculations based on the supercell method, which gives more reliable results on the superconductivity in doped systems than the calculations based on the virtual crystal approximation reported earlier. The superconducting critical temperature is increased from 189 to 212 K at 200 GPa in a cubic $Im\bar{3}m$ phase by the 6.25 % P doping, whereas it is decreased to 161 K by the 6.25 % Cl doping. Although the Cl doping weakens the superconductivity, it causes the $Im\bar{3}m$ phase to be stabilized in a lower pressure region than that in the non-doped H$_3$S., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables, submitted to Physical Review B

Pressure dependence of the electronic and crystal structures of K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$, which has pressure-induced two superconducting domes of SC I and SC II, was investigated by x-ray emission spectroscopy and diffraction. X-ray diffraction data show that compressibility along the c-axis changes around 12 GPa, where a new superconducting phase of SC II appears. This suggests a possible tetragonal to collapsed tetragonal phase transition. X-ray emission spectroscopy data also shows the change in the electronic structure around 12 GPa. These results can be explained by the scenario that the two SC domes under pressure originate from the change of Fermi surface topology. Present results here show that the nesting condition plays a key role in stabilizing the superconducting state helping to address outstanding fundamental question as to why the SC II appears under pressure.

This article reports the experimentally clarified crystal structure of a recently discovered sulfur hydride in high temperature superconducting phase which has the highest critical temperature Tc over 200 K which has been ever reported. For understanding the mechanism of the high superconductivity, the information of its crystal structure is very essential. Herein we have carried out the simultaneous measurements electrical resistance and synchrotron x-ray diffraction under high pressure, and clearly revealed that the hydrogen sulfide, H2S, decomposes to H3S and its crystal structure has body-centered cubic symmetry in the superconducting phase., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

The crystal structure and electrical resistivity of YBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$ (Y124) were studied under high pressure up to 18 GPa using diamond-anvil cells, respectively, in order to clarify its conduction mechanism. Y124 causes the first-order phase-transition into the orthorhombic Immm at pressure around 11 GPa. The high-pressure phase (HPP) also shows the superconductivity, while the manner of temperature dependence of electrical resistance and the pressure dependence of transition temperature, Tc, drastically change above 11 GPa. The CuO$_2$ plane persists in HPP but the CuO double chains collapse with the phase transition and transform into three-dimensional Cu-O network, resulting in the renewal of conduction system., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to be published in JPSJ

The pressure-temperature phase diagram of an intermediate-valence compound YbPd was revealed via simultaneous ac-calorimetry and electrical resistivity measurements. Two successive structural phase transition temperatures, $T_1$ = 125 K and $T_2$ = 110 K, are found to decrease with increasing pressure. The magnetic ordering transition at $T_{\rm N} ~sim$ 1.9 K decreases monotonically up to 1.7 GPa and disappears discontinuously at $P_{\rm c} sim$ 1.9 GPa, where the structural phase transition at $T_2$ is also suppressed. At $P_{\rm c}$, enhancement of the effective mass and residual resistivity are observed. Another probable magnetic phase transition, however, is found to take place at $T_{\rm ML} sim$0.3 K and smoothly varies even when crossing $P_{\rm c}$. Structural phase transitions at ambient pressure were also studied by a single crystal X-ray diffraction measurement. Below $T_2$, a tetragonal lattice distortion with doubling of the unit cell along the c-axis is observed, and thus there are two inequivalent Yb-sites below $P_{\rm c}$. These results indicate that one Yb-site, having larger valence configuration and thus smaller Kondo temperature, orders at $T_{\rm N}$. The other phase transition at $T_{\rm ML}$ seems to couple to the crystal structure for $T_2 < T < T_1$. YbPd is a unique system exhibiting magnetic orderings in metallic charge-ordered Yb systems., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn

An x-ray diffraction study reveals the charge ordering structure in an intermediate valence magnet YbPd with a CsCl-structure. The valence of the Yb ions forms an incommensurate structure, characterized by the wavevector (+-0.07 +-0.07 1/2) below 130 K. At 105 K, the incommensurate structure turns into a commensurate structure, characterized by the wavevector (0 0 1/2). Based on the resonant x-ray diffraction spectra of the superlattice reflections, the valences of the Yb ions below 105 K are found to be 3+ and 2.6+. The origin of the long wavelength modulation is discussed with the aid of an Ising model having the second nearest neighbor interaction., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures

Electrical conductivity of FeO was measured up to 141 GPa and 2480 K in a laserheated diamond-anvil cell. The results show that rock-salt (B1) type structured FeO metallizes at around 70 GPa and 1900 K without any structural phase transition. We computed fully self-consistently the electronic structure and the electrical conductivity of B1 FeO as a function of pressure and temperature, and found that although insulating as expected at ambient condition, B1 FeO metallizes at high temperatures, consistent with experiments. The observed metallization is related to spin crossover.

We report high-pressure induced superconductivity in boron nanowires (BNWs) with rhombohedral crystal structure. Obviously different from bulk rhombohedral boron, these BNWs show a semiconductor-metal transition at much lower pressure than bulk boron. Also, we found these BNWs become superconductors with Tc=1.5 K at 84 GPa, at the pressure of which bulk boron is still a semiconductor, via in-situ resistance measurements in a diamond anvil cell. With increasing pressure, Tc of the BNWs increases. The occurrence of superconductivity in the BNWs at a pressure as low as 84 GPa probably arises from the size effect., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

Pressure induced long range antiferromagnetic order is discovered in Yb2Pd2Sn by measuring the electrical resistivity under pressure up to 5.0 GPa. Magnetic ordering is observed above about 1.0 GPa, being the lowest pressure in Yb-intermetallics showing pressure induced magnetic ordering, Unexpectedly, ordering disappears above about 4.0 GPa, giving rise to the first observation of the appearance of two quantum critical points persisting in a broad range of pressure within a single material., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures