A facile approach to calculating superconducting transition temperatures in the bismuth solid phases

Abstract: All solid phases of bismuth under pressure, but one, have been experimentally found to superconduct. From Bi-I to Bi-V, avoiding Bi-IV, they become superconductors and perhaps Bi-IV may also become superconductive. To investigate the influence of the electronic properties N(E) and the vibrational properties F({\omega}) on their superconductivity we have ab initio calculated them for the corresponding experimental crystalline structures, and using a BCS approach have been able to determine their critical temperatures Tc obtaining results close to experiment: For Bi-I (The Wyckoff Phase) we predicted a transition temperature of less than 1.3 mK and a year later a Tc of 0.5 mK was measured; for Bi-II Tc is 3.9 K measured and 3.6 K calculated; Bi-III has a measured Tc of 7 K and 6.5 K calculated for the structure reported by Chen et al., and for Bi-V Tc ~ 8 K measured and 6.8 K calculated. Bi-IV has not been found to be a superconductor but we have recently predicted a Tc of 4.25 K.