A Possible Path to Room-Temperature Superconductivity: From Ambient to High Pressure; from High Pressure to Ambient Again!?

Liangzi Deng^1,2*

¹Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, USA
²Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, USA

* Presenter:Liangzi Deng, email:quantum0621@gmail.com

The search for superconductors with a higher transition temperature (Tc) has been one of the major driving forces in the long-sustained research effort on superconductivity ever since its discovery in 1911. The discovery of YBa2Cu3O7 with a Tc ~ 93 K in 1987 by Dr. Ching-Wu Chu’s group at Houston in collaboration with Dr. Maw-Kuen Wu’s group ushered in the modern era of high-temperature superconductivity (HTS). A new record Tc of 164 K was again set by Dr. Chu’s group together with Dr. Ho-Kwang Mao’s group in HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ under 31 GPa in 1994. Since then, all record Tcs have been set under high pressure, which hampers both the application of the record-setting materials and the measurement of their key physical properties. To overcome this hurdle, Dr. Deng and colleagues have developed a pressure-quenching protocol to retain metastable phases by taking advantage of energy barriers, similar to the formation of diamond. In this talk, Dr. Deng will discuss their recent breakthroughs in successfully retaining pressure-induced and/or -enhanced superconducting phases at ambient pressure in multiple systems. Additionally, Dr. Deng will introduce their efforts to search for HTS via the interface mechanism and to discover novel materials with favorable physical properties using different synthesis techniques.

Keywords: High Temperature Superconductivity, Interface Superconductivity, Topological Material, High Pressure, Metastable Phase