Date/Time
Date(s) - 30/01/2019
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: The hydrides and the dream of room temperature superconductivity

Description: Hydrogen sulfide H3S under a pressure of 155 Gpa in a diamond anvil cell was found [in 2015] to be superconducting with a critical temperature of 203K. It is believed to belong to the class of conventional superconductors and represents a factor of 4 increase over the previous known value of 40K in MgB2. A spectacular success of modern first principle band structure calculations
based on Density Functional Theory correctly predicted in [2014] the crystal structure, magnitude
of Tc and the relevant pressure range. In these calculations the mechanism which drives the
condensation of the conduction electrons into Cooper pairs is the electron phonon interaction.
Optical experiments specifically designed to probe mechanism in H3S confirmed [in 2017] this epectation. I will place these developments within a historical context and argue that yet another amazing chapter in the history of superconductivity is now unfolding. Very recent preprints make it clear that the long held dream of superconductivity at room temperature is within our reach.

Speaker: Dr. Jules P. Carbotte

Institute: McMaster University

Location: ABB-102

Website – https://physics.mcmaster.ca/component/comprofiler/userprofile/carbotte.html?Itemid=544

Host: Dr. Takashi Imai, imai@physics.mcmaster.ca, Ext. 27303