Microscopic resolution of superconducting electrons in ultrahigh-pressed hydrogen sulfide

2023/06/06 by Zhang, Jian-Feng, Zhan, Bo, Gao, Miao +4
#FOS: Physical sciences #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2306.03654

Abstract

We investigate the electronic and phonon properties of hydrogen sulfide (SH₃) under ultrahigh pressure to elucidate the origin of its high-T_c superconductivity. Contrary to the prevailing belief that the metalized S-H σ bond is responsible, our analysis, based on the anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg equation and the crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) calculation, reveals that the H-H σ-antibonding states play a dominant role in the large electron-phonon coupling that leads to the superconducting pairing in SH₃. Furthermore, by partially restricting the vibration of S atoms, we demonstrate that the S-H bonds provide subsidiary contributions to the pairing interaction. These findings shed light on the importance of the previously overlooked H-H σ^* bonds in driving high-T_c superconductivity in SH₃ and offer insights into the relationship between metallic H-H covalent antibonding and high-T_c superconductivity in other hydrogen-rich materials under high pressure.

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