Record-High T_{c} and Dome-Shaped Superconductivity in a Medium-Entropy Alloy TaNbHfZr under Pressure up to 160GPa.

Abstract

Superconductivity has been one of the focal points in medium and high-entropy alloys (MEAs-HEAs) since the discovery of the body-centered cubic (bcc) HEA superconductor in 2014. Until now, the superconducting transition temperature (T_{c}) of most MEA and HEA superconductors has not exceeded 10K. Here, we report a TaNbHfZr bulk MEA superconductor crystallized in the BCC structure with a T_{c} of 15.3K which set a new record. During compression, T_{c} follows a dome-shaped curve. It reaches a broad maximum of roughly 15K at around 70GPa before decreasing to 9.3K at 157.2GPa. First-principles calculations attribute the dome-shaped curve to two competing effects, that is, the enhancement of the logarithmically averaged characteristic phonon frequency ω_{log} and the simultaneous suppression of the electron-phonon coupling constant λ. Thus, TaNbHfZr MEA may have a promising future for studying the underlying quantum physics, as well as developing new applications under extreme conditions.