Superconducting properties of (NH3)yLixFeSe0.5Te0.5 under pressure

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We prepared two superconducting phases of (NH3)yLixFeSe0.5Te0.5, which show superconducting transition temperatures (Tc’s) as high as 20.2 and 29.5 K at ambient pressure, here called the ‘low-Tc phase’ and ‘high-Tc phase’. The temperature dependence of electrical resistance (R) was measured for the low-Tc phase of (NH3)yLixFeSe0.5Te0.5 over a pressure (p) range of 0–14 GPa, and for the high-Tc phase of (NH3)yLixFeSe0.5Te0.5 over 0–19 GPa, yielding double-dome superconducting Tc–p phase diagrams, i.e. two superconducting phases (SC-I and SC-II) were found for both the low-Tc and high-Tc phases under pressure. For the low-Tc phase, the maximum Tc was 20.2 K at 0 GPa for SC-I, and 19.9 K at 8.98 GPa for SC-II. For the high-Tc phase, the maximum Tc was 33.0 K at 1.00 GPa for SC-I, and 24.0 K at 11.5–13.2 GPa for SC-II. These results imply that the maximum Tc value of the high pressure phase (SC-II) does not exceed the maximum value of the SC-I, unlike what was shown in the Tc–p phase diagrams of (NH3)yLixFeSe and (NH3)yCsxFeSe investigated previously. Nevertheless, the double-dome Tc–p phase diagram was found in metal-doped FeSe0.5Te0.5, indicating that this feature is universal in metal-doped FeSe1−zTez. Moreover, no structural phase transitions were observed for either the low-Tc or high-Tc phases of (NH3)yLixFeSe0.5Te0.5 over the wide pressure range of 0–15.3 GPa, and the Tc-lattice constant (c) plots for both phases were recorded to determine the critical point separating SC-I and SC-II.