Pressure and high Tc superconductivity: applications to sulfur hydrides

Abstract: The rapid variation of the superconductivity Tc in hydride sulfur (H3S) under high pressure [A. Drozdov et al, Nature 525, 73 (2015); M. Einaga et al, arXiv: 1509.03156] in a vicinity Pcr=123GPa is interpreted in terms of the 1st order transition, possibly related to a CDW-instability with a non-zero structural vector. The superconductivity mechanisms in high-Tc phase be discussed, ordinary methods of calculating Tc are shown not applicable in H3S because, beside the acoustic branches, its phonon spectrum contains hydrogen modes with much higher frequency. A modified approach provides realistic Tc values. The isotope effect (change of Tc at the substitution of deuterium for hydrogen) owes its origin to the high frequency of phonons and is different in different phases. The decrease of Tc after reaching a maximum in high-T phase is due to the interaction with the second gap arising on a hole-like pocket. The phonon-mediated pairing on the latter is in a non-adiabatic regime of the frequency omega of hydrogen modes comparable to the Fermi energy.