Single Crystal X-Ray Diffraction Investigation of High Tc Sc-H Mixtures

Recent experiments have demonstrated an astonishing close-to-room-temperature superconductivity (Tc ~ 250 K) in laser-heated Y-H and La-H mixtures between 170 GPa and 200 GPa. While this is a game-changer in our understanding of condensed matter physics, these pressures are far too high for technological applications. Scandium hydrides, which are largely unexplored experimentally at high pressures, are predicted by computational calculations to also form several high-Tc superconducting new structures, including a promising ScH12 solid with a calculated Tc of 313 K below 100 GPa. The here proposed study will investigate laser-heated Sc-H mixtures between 40 and 250 GPa, in pursuit of the theoretically predicted wealth of Sc-H stoichiometries and structures, some featuring very high Tc values. Unit cell and Sc atom’s arrangement will be extracted by single-crystal X-ray diffraction sample characterization.