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What superconducts in sulfur hydrides under pressure and why

Publication ,  Journal Article
Bernstein, N; Hellberg, CS; Johannes, MD; Mazin, II; Mehl, MJ
Published in: Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
February 27, 2015

The recent discovery of superconductivity at 190 K in highly compressed H2S is spectacular not only because it sets a record high critical temperature, but because it does so in a material that appears to be, and we argue here that it is, a conventional strong-coupling BCS superconductor. Intriguingly, superconductivity in the observed pressure and temperature range was predicted theoretically in a similar compound, H3S. Several important questions about this remarkable result, however, are left unanswered: (1) Does the stoichiometry of the superconducting compound differ from the nominal composition, and could it be the predicted H3S compound? (2) Is the physical origin of the anomalously high critical temperature related only to the high H phonon frequencies, or does strong electron-ion coupling play a role? We show that at experimentally relevant pressures H2S is unstable, decomposing into H3S and S, and that H3S has a record high Tc due to its covalent bonds driven metallic, which make this compound rather similar to MgB2, but unlike most other good conventional superconductors.

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Published In

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI

EISSN

1550-235X

ISSN

1098-0121

Publication Date

February 27, 2015

Volume

91

Issue

6

Related Subject Headings

  • Fluids & Plasmas
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences
 

Citation

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Bernstein, N., Hellberg, C. S., Johannes, M. D., Mazin, I. I., & Mehl, M. J. (2015). What superconducts in sulfur hydrides under pressure and why. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 91(6). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.060511
Bernstein, N., C. S. Hellberg, M. D. Johannes, I. I. Mazin, and M. J. Mehl. “What superconducts in sulfur hydrides under pressure and why.” Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics 91, no. 6 (February 27, 2015). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.060511.
Bernstein N, Hellberg CS, Johannes MD, Mazin II, Mehl MJ. What superconducts in sulfur hydrides under pressure and why. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 2015 Feb 27;91(6).
Bernstein, N., et al. “What superconducts in sulfur hydrides under pressure and why.” Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, vol. 91, no. 6, Feb. 2015. Scopus, doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.91.060511.
Bernstein N, Hellberg CS, Johannes MD, Mazin II, Mehl MJ. What superconducts in sulfur hydrides under pressure and why. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 2015 Feb 27;91(6).

Published In

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI

EISSN

1550-235X

ISSN

1098-0121

Publication Date

February 27, 2015

Volume

91

Issue

6

Related Subject Headings

  • Fluids & Plasmas
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences