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Evidence of Phonon‐Mediated Superconductivity in LaH 10 at High Pressure
Author(s) -
Durajski Artur P.,
Wang Chongze,
Li Yinwei,
Szczȩśniak Radosław,
Cho JunHyung
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annalen der physik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1521-3889
pISSN - 0003-3804
DOI - 10.1002/andp.202000518
Subject(s) - superconductivity , phonon , kinetic isotope effect , condensed matter physics , critical field , lanthanum , hydride , hydrogen , physics , coupling (piping) , materials science , thermodynamics , deuterium , atomic physics , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics , metallurgy
Motivated by the recent experimental discovery of the high‐critical‐temperature superconductor LaH 10 (250–260 K at high pressures 170–190 GPa), the influence of H isotope substitution on the phonon spectra, electron–phonon interactions, and thermodynamic properties of superconducting LaH10 − x D x ( x = 0 , 2 , 5 , 8 , 10 ) at 250 GPa are studied. On the basis of first‐principles calculations, it is found that all investigated systems are dynamically stable in a clathrate structure with space group Fm 3 ¯ m and exhibit high superconducting critical temperatures T c ranging from 169 to 234 K. The dominant role of hydrogen in enhancing T c is examined by numerically solving the Eliashberg equations. The estimated critical temperature, superconducting energy gap, specific heat, and thermodynamic critical field demonstrate that the underlying mechanism of superconductivity in lanthanum hydride is conventional electron–phonon coupling, which manifests itself in terms of isotope effect.