Designing Next-Generation Superconductors through Pressure Quenching

Since its discovery over a century ago, superconductivity has promised transformative technologies, such as lossless power grids, magnetic levitation and ultrasensitive sensors. However, the progress in material discovery has been maddeningly slow. Despite decades of attempts, the dream of practical, ambient-condition superconductors has remained out of reach.

In this Presidential Lecture, Lilia Boeri will present cutting-edge research related to superconductivity. Eremets’ discovery of near room-temperature superconductivity in high-pressure hydrides marked a major turning point in the history of superconductivity, demonstrating that extreme pressure can stabilize phases with unprecedented properties that are unthinkable at ambient conditions. Ten years after the discovery of hydrogen sulfide superconductors, pressure quenching is emerging as a practical strategy to retain high-temperature phases at ambient pressure by preserving structures formed under extreme conditions.