Synthesis of Superconducting Phase of La$_{0.5}$Ce$_{0.5}$H$_{10}$ at High Pressures (2208.05199v1)

Abstract: Clathrate hydride \emph{Fm}={3}\emph{m}-LaH${10}$ has been proven as the most extraordinary superconductor with the critical temperature $T_c$ above 250 K upon compression of hundreds of GPa in recent years. A general hope is to reduce the stabilization pressure and maintain the high $T_c$ value of the specific phase in LaH${10}$. However, strong structural instability distorts \emph{Fm}={3}\emph{m} structure and leads to a rapid decrease of $T_c$ at low pressures. Here, we investigate the phase stability and superconducting behaviors of \emph{Fm}={3}\emph{m}-LaH${10}$ with enhanced chemical pre-compression through partly replacing La by Ce atoms from both experiments and calculations. For explicitly characterizing the synthesized hydride, we choose lanthanum-cerium alloy with stoichiometry composition of 1:1. X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering measurements reveal the stabilization of \emph{Fm}={3}\emph{m}-La${0.5}$Ce${0.5}$H${10}$ in the pressure range of 140-160 GPa. Superconductivity with $T_c$ of 175$\pm$2 K at 155 GPa is confirmed with the observation of the zero-resistivity state and supported by the theoretical calculations. These findings provide applicability in the future explorations for a large variety of hydrogen-rich hydrides.