Imaging the Meissner effect in hydride superconductors using quantum sensors

Journal Article · Wed Feb 28 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Nature (London)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07026-7· OSTI ID:2426863

Bhattacharyya, P. ^[1]; Chen, W. ^[2]; Huang, X. ^[2]; Chatterjee, S. ^[3]; Huang, B. ^[4]; Kobrin, B. ^[1]; Lyu, Y. ^[5]; Smart, T. J. ^[5]; Block, M. ^[6]; Wang, E. ^[6]; Wang, Z. ^[6]; Wu, W. ^[6]; Hsieh, S. ^[1]; Ma, H. ^[4]; Mandyam, S. ^[6]; Chen, B. ^[6]; Davis, E. ^[5]; Geballe, Z. M. ^[7]; Zu, C. ^[8]; Struzhkin, V. ^[9] ; Jeanloz, R. ^[5]; Moore, J. E. ^[1]; Cui, T. ^[10]; Galli, G. ^[11]; Halperin, B. I. ^[6]; Laumann, C. R. ^[12]; Yao, N. Y. ^[13]

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1. University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
2. Jilin Univ., Changchun (China). State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials
3. University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
4. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
5. University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
6. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
7. Carnegie Inst. of Washington, DC (United States)
8. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
9. Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), Beijing (China)
10. Jilin Univ., Changchun (China). State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials; Ningbo University (China)
11. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
12. Boston Univ., MA (United States)
13. University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)

By directly altering microscopic interactions, pressure provides a powerful tuning knob for the exploration of condensed phases and geophysical phenomena. Here, the megabar regime represents an interesting frontier, in which recent discoveries include high-temperature superconductors, as well as structural and valence phase transitions. However, at such high pressures, many conventional measurement techniques fail. Here we demonstrate the ability to perform local magnetometry inside a diamond anvil cell with sub-micron spatial resolution at megabar pressures. Our approach uses a shallow layer of nitrogen-vacancy colour centres implanted directly within the anvil; crucially, we choose a crystal cut compatible with the intrinsic symmetries of the nitrogen-vacancy centre to enable functionality at megabar pressures. We apply our technique to characterize a recently discovered hydride superconductor, CeH₉. By performing simultaneous magnetometry and electrical transport measurements, we observe the dual signatures of superconductivity: diamagnetism characteristic of the Meissner effect and a sharp drop of the resistance to near zero. By locally mapping both the diamagnetic response and flux trapping, we directly image the geometry of superconducting regions, showing marked inhomogeneities at the micron scale. Our work brings quantum sensing to the megabar frontier and enables the closed-loop optimization of superhydride materials synthesis.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 2426863
• Journal Information: Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 8002 Vol. 627; ISSN 0028-0836
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY