Molecular Crystals and High-Temperature Superconductivity

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model for molecular crystals where pair interactions among excited atoms could lead to an insulator-superconductor transition, potentially explaining high-temperature superconductivity in certain materials.

Contribution

It introduces a simple statistical model linking molecular crystal behavior to high-temperature superconductivity through pair interactions and phase transitions.

Findings

Potential insulator-superconductor transition in molecular crystals under pressure.

Similarity of properties suggests possible high-temperature superconductivity mechanisms.

Model applicable to oxigen, sulphur, xenon, and other materials.

Abstract

A simple model of the molecular crystal of $N$ atoms as a statistical mixture in real space of $NX$ atoms in excited and $N(1-X)$ atoms in well localized ground state is considered. The phase coherence of the atomic wave functions is suppose to be absent. A bond energy of crystal is supposed to be a result of the pair interaction of $NX$ excited atoms. These molecular type pair excitations do not interact one with another before the metallization, and do not contribute to the pressure. Nevertheless, the pressure of such kind of crystals is determined by the interatomic distances, and by the binding energy of pairs. The possibility of the insulator-superconductor transition of such a ``gas'' of $NX/2$ pairs, ``dissolved'' among $N(1-X)$ atoms in ground state is discussed. This kind of transition is supposed to occur in the oxigen $O_2$, in the sulphur $S$, and, possibly, in the xenon $Xe$ crystals under pressure. The same kind of transition is likely to take place in HTSC materials, metal-ammonia and hydrogen-palladium solutions under normal conditions, due to similarity of some of their properties with the corresponding ones of molecular crystals.