On the Author Correction to "Magnetic flux trapping in hydrogen-rich high-temperature superconductors", Nat Phys. 19, 1293 (2023), arXiv:2206.14108

TL;DR

This paper critiques previous claims of magnetic flux trapping in sulfur hydride superconductors, demonstrating that the experimental protocol used was invalid and that the evidence for vortex motion is not supported.

Contribution

It identifies flaws in the experimental protocol used to claim flux creep in H3S and proposes an alternative method that invalidates previous conclusions.

Findings

The original protocol is not applicable to high-pressure H3S.

The alternative protocol shows the previous flux creep evidence is invalid.

Claims of vortex motion in H3S are not supported by proper experimental evidence.

Abstract

In Fig. 4c, under the section titled "Pinning and thermally activated motion of vortices" in arXiv:2206.14108 and Nat Phys. 19, 1293 (2023) [1], Minkov and co-workers presented the time dependence of the magnetic moment of sulfur hydride (H$_{3}$S) under high pressure and argued that they had observed magnetic flux creep at 165 K, 180 K and 185 K. Flux creep is a phenomenon observed under the assumption that the material under study can trap magnetic flux, and thus, Fig. 4c serves as evidence that H$_{3}$S traps magnetic flux and is a high-temperature superconductor. The claim remains unchanged even in the recently published Author Correction [2] to Ref. [1]. However, Ref. [2] discloses an experimental protocol they used to collect the time-dependent magnetic moment data. In this Commentary Paper, we point out that the protocol is not applicable to H$_{3}$S under high pressure and propose an alternative protocol. The correct protocol demonstrates that the claim in Refs. [1,2] -- that their time-dependent magnetic moment data serve as evidence of "pinning and thermally activated motion of vortices" -- is indeed invalid.