hydrides | Ricerc@Sapienza

A multi-purpose low-energy proton source for tailoring the properties of quantum materials, advanced insulators for optics, and solid cells for energy applications (AMLET)

Lingua Italiano

The Kaufman source acquired allows varying the proton beam energy from 10 to 1200 eV with a high degree of reproducibility and control. The same applies to the dose of incorporated protons. These very important parameters are typically hard to control by other systems, such as plasma sources or electrochemical methods. Indeed, Kaufman sources are configured to have the region of gas ionization physically separate from the intended target, avoiding exposure of the samples to intense and potentially damaging electric fields.

Superconductivity in sodalite-like yttrium hydride clathrates

Motivated by the discovery of near-room-temperature superconductivity in the sodalite-like clathrate hydride
LaH10, we report ab initio calculations of the superconducting properties of two closely related hydrides
YH6 and YH10, for which an even higher Tc has been predicted. Using fully anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg theory with Coulomb corrections, we find almost isotropic superconducting gaps, resulting from a uniform distribution of the coupling over states of both Y and H sublattices. The Coulomb screening is rather weak, resulting in a Morel-Anderson pseudopotential

Viewpoint: the road to room-temperature conventional superconductivity

It is a honor to write a contribution on this memorial for Sandro Massidda. For both of us, at different stages in our lives, Sandro was first and foremost a friend. We both admired his humble, playful and profound approach to life and physics. In this contribution we describe the route which permitted to meet a long-standing challenge in solid state physics, i.e. room temperature superconductivity.