High-Temperature Superconducting Phase in Clathrate Calcium Hydride CaH_{6} up to 215K at a Pressure of 172GPa.

Abstract

The recent discovery of superconductive rare earth and actinide superhydrides has ushered in a new era of superconductivity research at high pressures. This distinct type of clathrate metal hydrides was first proposed for alkaline-earth-metal hydride CaH_{6} that, however, has long eluded experimental synthesis, impeding an understanding of pertinent physics. Here, we report successful synthesis of CaH_{6} and its measured superconducting critical temperature T_{c} of 215K at 172GPa, which is evidenced by a sharp drop of resistivity to zero and a characteristic decrease of T_{c} under a magnetic field up to 9T. An estimate based on the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg model gives a giant zero-temperature upper critical magnetic field of 203T. These remarkable benchmark superconducting properties place CaH_{6} among the most outstanding high-T_{c} superhydrides, marking it as the hitherto only clathrate metal hydride outside the family of rare earth and actinide hydrides. This exceptional case raises great prospects of expanding the extraordinary class of high-T_{c} superhydrides to a broader variety of compounds that possess more diverse material features and physics characteristics.