2024/01/23 by Zi-Yu Cao, Cao, Zi-Yu, Seokmin Choi +25 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2401.12682
openalex publication_date 2024/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The recent discovery of superconductivity in hydrogen-rich compounds has garnered significant experimental and theoretical interest because of the record-setting critical temperatures. As the direct observation of the superconducting (SC) gap in these superhydrides is rare, the underlying mechanism behind its occurrence has yet to be settled down. Here, we report a successful synthesis of the P63/mmc phase of CeH9 that exhibits the SC transition with SC critical temperature of about 100 K at a pressure of about 100 GPa. The observation of the zero electrical resistance and the critical current demonstrates that the SC phase is realized in Ce-based superhydride. Quasiparticle scattering spectroscopy (QSS) reveals the Andreev reflection at zero bias voltage, a hallmark of superconductivity, in the differential conductance. The obtained SC gap-to-Tc ratio of 4.36 and temperature dependence of SC gap are consistent with the prediction from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory with a moderate coupling strength. The successful realization of QSS under Megabar conditions is expected to provide a desired route to the study of the mechanism of superconductivity as well as the establishment of the SC phase in superhydride high-Tc systems.