Pressure and high Tc superconductivity: applications to sulfur hydrides

TL;DR

This paper investigates the mechanisms behind high-temperature superconductivity in sulfur hydrides under high pressure, highlighting phase transitions, phonon spectra, and isotope effects that influence Tc.

Contribution

It introduces a modified approach to calculate Tc in H3S considering high-frequency hydrogen phonons and discusses the role of non-adiabatic effects and phase transitions.

Findings

Tc varies rapidly near 123 GPa due to a first-order transition.

High-frequency hydrogen phonons significantly affect Tc calculations.

Isotope substitution alters Tc due to phonon frequency changes.

Abstract

The rapid variation of the superconductivity Tc in hydride sulfur (H3S) under high pressure [A. Drozdov et al, Nature 525, 73 (2015); M. Einaga et al, arXiv: 1509.03156] in a vicinity Pcr=123GPa is interpreted in terms of the 1st order transition, possibly related to a CDW-instability with a non-zero structural vector. The superconductivity mechanisms in high-Tc phase be discussed, ordinary methods of calculating Tc are shown not applicable in H3S because, beside the acoustic branches, its phonon spectrum contains hydrogen modes with much higher frequency. A modified approach provides realistic Tc values. The isotope effect (change of Tc at the substitution of deuterium for hydrogen) owes its origin to the high frequency of phonons and is different in different phases. The decrease of Tc after reaching a maximum in high-T phase is due to the interaction with the second gap arising on a hole-like pocket. The phonon-mediated pairing on the latter is in a non-adiabatic regime of the frequency omega of hydrogen modes comparable to the Fermi energy.