High-temperature superconductivity on the verge of a structural instability in lanthanum superhydride

Dan Sun (), Vasily S. Minkov, Shirin Mozaffari, Ying Sun, Yanming Ma, Stella Chariton, Vitali B. Prakapenka, Mikhail I. Eremets, Luis Balicas and Fedor F. Balakirev
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Dan Sun: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Vasily S. Minkov: Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry
Shirin Mozaffari: Florida State University
Ying Sun: Jilin University
Yanming Ma: Jilin University
Stella Chariton: University of Chicago
Vitali B. Prakapenka: University of Chicago
Mikhail I. Eremets: Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry
Luis Balicas: Florida State University
Fedor F. Balakirev: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The possibility of high, room-temperature superconductivity was predicted for metallic hydrogen in the 1960s. However, metallization and superconductivity of hydrogen are yet to be unambiguously demonstrated and may require pressures as high as 5 million atmospheres. Rare earth based “superhydrides”, such as LaH10, can be considered as a close approximation of metallic hydrogen even though they form at moderately lower pressures. In superhydrides the predominance of H-H metallic bonds and high superconducting transition temperatures bear the hallmarks of metallic hydrogen. Still, experimental studies revealing the key factors controlling their superconductivity are scarce. Here, we report the pressure and magnetic field dependence of the superconducting order observed in LaH10. We determine that the high-symmetry high-temperature superconducting Fm-3m phase of LaH10 can be stabilized at substantially lower pressures than previously thought. We find a remarkable correlation between superconductivity and a structural instability indicating that lattice vibrations, responsible for the monoclinic structural distortions in LaH10, strongly affect the superconducting coupling.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26706-w

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