Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior of Superconducting SnH4_4

We studied chemical interaction of Sn with H$_2$ by X-ray diffraction methods at pressures of 180-210 GPa. A previously unknown tetrahydride SnH$_4$ with a cubic structure (${fcc}$) exhibiting superconducting properties below ${T}$$_C$ = 72 K was obtained; the formation of a high molecular ${C2/m}$-SnH$_{14}$ superhydride and several lower hydrides, ${fcc}$ SnH$_2$ and ${C2}$-Sn$_{12}$H$_{18}$, was also detected. The temperature dependence of critical current density ${J}$$_C$(T) in SnH$_4$ yields the superconducting gap 2$\Delta$(0) = 20-22 meV at 180 GPa. The SnH$_4$ superconductor has unusual behavior in strong magnetic fields: linear temperature dependences of magnetoresistance and the upper critical magnetic field ${B}$$_{C2}$(T) $\propto$ (${T}$$_C$ - ${T}$). The latter contradicts the Wertheimer-Helfand-Hohenberg model developed for conventional superconductors. Along with this, the temperature dependence of electrical resistance of ${fcc}$ SnH$_4$ in normal resistivity state exhibits a deviation from what is expected for phonon-mediated scattering described by the Bloch-Gr\"uneisen model, and is beyond the framework of the Fermi liquid theory. Such anomalies occur for many superhydrides, making them much closer to cuprates than previously believed

First record of Rhabdoceras suessi (Ammonoidea, Late Triassic) from the Transylvanian Triassic Series of the Eastern Carpathians (Romania) and a review of its biochronology, paleobiogeography and paleoecology

Abstract The occurrence of the heteromorphic ammonoid Rhabdoceras suessi Hauer, 1860, is recorded for the first time in the Upper Triassic limestone of the Timon-Ciungi olistolith in the Rarău Syncline, Eastern Carpathians. A single specimen of Rhabdoceras suessi co-occurs with Monotis (Monotis) salinaria that constrains its occurrence here to the Upper Norian (Sevatian 1). It is the only known heteromorphic ammonoid in the Upper Triassic of the Romanian Carpathians. Rhabdoceras suessi is a cosmopolitan species widely recorded in low and mid-paleolatitude faunas. It ranges from the Late Norian to the Rhaetian and is suitable for high-resolution worldwide correlations only when it co-occurs with shorter-ranging choristoceratids, monotid bivalves, or the hydrozoan Heterastridium. Formerly considered as the index fossil for the Upper Norian (Sevatian) Suessi Zone, by the latest 1970s this species lost its key biochronologic status among Late Triassic ammonoids, and it generated a controversy in the 1980s concerning the status of the Rhaetian stage. New stratigraphic data from North America and Europe in the subsequent decades resulted in a revised ammonoid biostratigraphy for the uppermost Triassic, the Rhaetian being reinstalled as the topmost stage in the current standard timescale of the Triassic. The geographic distribution of Rhabdoceras is compiled from published worldwide records, and its paleobiogeography and paleoecology are discussed

Pressure-induced shift of effective Ce valence, Fermi energy and phase boundaries in CeOs4Sb12

CeOs4Sb12, a member of the skutterudite family, has an unusual semimetallic low-temperature L-phase that inhabits a wedge-like area of the field H - temperature T phase diagram. We have conducted measurements of electrical transport and megahertz conductivity on CeOs4Sb12 single crystals under pressures of up to 3 GPa and in high magnetic fields of up to 41 T to investigate the influence of pressure on the different H-T phase boundaries. While the high-temperature valence transition between the metallic H-phase and the L-phase is shifted to higher T by pressures of the order of 1 GPa, we observed only a marginal suppression of the S-phase that is found below 1 K for pressures of up to 1.91 GPa. High-field quantum oscillations have been observed for pressures up to 3.0 GPa and the Fermi surface of the highfield side of the H-phase is found to show a surprising decrease in size with increasing pressure, implying a change in electronic structure rather than a mere contraction of lattice parameters. We evaluate the field-dependence of the effective masses for different pressures and also reflect on the sample dependence of some of the properties of CeOs4Sb12 which appears to be limited to the low-field region

Truncated mass divergence in a Mott metal

The Mott metal–insulator transition represents one of the most fundamental phenomena in condensed matter physics. Yet, basic tenets of the canonical Brinkman-Rice picture of Mott localization remain to be tested experimentally by quantum oscillation measurements that directly probe the quasiparticle Fermi surface and effective mass. By extending this technique to high pressure, we have examined the metallic state on the threshold of Mott localization in clean, undoped crystals of NiS2. We find that i) on approaching Mott localization, the quasiparticle mass is strongly enhanced, whereas the Fermi surface remains essentially unchanged; ii) the quasiparticle mass closely follows the divergent form predicted theoretically, establishing charge carrier slowdown as the driver for the metal–insulator transition; iii) this mass divergence is truncated by the metal–insulator transition, placing the Mott critical point inside the insulating section of the phase diagram. The inaccessibility of the Mott critical point in NiS2 parallels findings at the threshold of ferromagnetism in clean metallic systems, in which criticality at low temperature is almost universally interrupted by first-order transitions or novel emergent phases such as incommensurate magnetic order or unconventional superconductivity

Hot Hydride Superconductivity Above 550 K

The search for room temperature superconductivity has accelerated in the last few years driven by experimentally accessible theoretical predictions that indicated alloying dense hydrogen with other elements could produce conventional superconductivity at high temperatures and pressures. These predictions helped inform the synthesis of simple binary hydrides that culminated in the discovery of the superhydride LaH10 with a superconducting transition temperature Tc of 260 K at 180 GPa. We have now successfully synthesized a metallic La-based superhydride with an initial Tc of 294 K. When subjected to subsequent thermal excursions that promoted a chemical reaction to a higher order system, the Tc onset was driven irreversibly to 556 K. X-ray characterization confirmed the formation of a distorted LaH10 based backbone that suggests the formation of ternary or quaternary compounds with substitution at the La and/or H sites. The results provide evidence for hot superconductivity, aligning with recent predictions for higher order hydrides under pressure

Supporting data for 'Truncated mass divergence in a Mott metal'

This deposit holds all the data underlying the 3 Figures shown in the linked publication "Truncated mass divergence in a Mott metal". A summary of the corresponding paper: our high-pressure quantum oscillation measurements allow the first comprehensive survey of the electronic structure and its evolution on the metallic side of a pressure-induced Mott insulator transition in ultraclean specimens with a simple crystal structure