Searching for new high-temperature superconductors using high pressures and crystal structure prediction

The recent report of a superconducting critical temperature (Tc) exceeding 260 K in a lanthanum hydride (LaH10) [1] is a spectacular demonstration of the new possibilities for material discovery offered by the combination of high pressure research and ab-initio crystal structure prediction. LaH10, similarly to its precursor SH3 (Tc=203 K) [2], is a conventional high-Tc superconductor, whose chemical composition, thermodynamic stability and critical temperature were predicted from first-principles before the experimental measurement [3]. In this talk, I will give a short overview of the field, including the most recent developments [4-6] and discuss how to extend the idea of high-Tc conventional superconductivity to other classes of compounds other than hydrides and lower pressures [7,8].
[1] A. P. Drozdov et al, cond-mat/1808.07039 (2018); M. Somayazulu et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 027001 (2019). [2] A. P. Drozdov, M. I. Eremets, I. A. Troyan, V. Ksenofontov, and S. I. Shylin, Nature 525, 73 (2015). [3] D. Duan et al., Sci. Rep. 4 (2014); F. Peng et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 107001 (2017). [4] C. Heil and L. Boeri, Phys. Rev. B 92, 060508(R) (2015); J. A. Flores-Livas, M. Amsler, C. Heil, A. Sanna, L. Boeri, G. Profeta, C. Wolverton, S. Goedecker, and E. K. U. Gross, Phys. Rev. B 93, 020508(R) (2016). [5] C. Kokail, L. Boeri and W. von der Linden, Phys. Rev. Materials 1, 074803 (2017). [6] C. Heil, S. di Cataldo, G.B. Bachelet and L. Boeri, cond-mat/1901.04001. [7] C. Kokail, C. Heil and L. Boeri, Phys. Rev. B 94, 060502(R) (2016). [8] L. Boeri and G.B. Bachelet, cond-mat/1902.07993.

Host
Peter Hirschfeld