Superconductivity Observed in Tantalum Polyhydride at High Pressure

We report experimental discovery of tantalum polyhydride superconductor.It was synthesized under highpressure and high-temperature conditions using diamond anvil cell combined with in situ high-pressure laser heating techniques.The superconductivity was investigated via resistance measurements at pressures.The highest superconducting transition temperature T_(c)was found to be~30 K at 197 GPa in the sample that was synthesized at the same pressure with~2000 K heating.The transitions are shifted to low temperature upon applying magnetic fields that support the superconductivity nature.The upper critical field at zero temperatureμ_0H_(c2)(0)of the superconducting phase is estimated to be~20 T that corresponds to Ginzburg-Landau coherent length~40 A.Our results suggest that the superconductivity may arise from 143d phase of TaH_(3).It is,for the first time to our best knowledge,experimental realization of superconducting hydrides for the VB group of transition metals.

STCF conceptual design report (Volume 1): Physics & detector

The superτ-charm facility(STCF)is an electron–positron collider proposed by the Chinese particle physics community.It is designed to operate in a center-of-mass energy range from 2 to 7 GeV with a peak luminosity of 0.5×10^(35) cm^(–2)·s^(–1) or higher.The STCF will produce a data sample about a factor of 100 larger than that of the presentτ-charm factory—the BEPCII,providing a unique platform for exploring the asymmetry of matter-antimatter(charge-parity violation),in-depth studies of the internal structure of hadrons and the nature of non-perturbative strong interactions,as well as searching for exotic hadrons and physics beyond the Standard Model.The STCF project in China is under development with an extensive R&D program.This document presents the physics opportunities at the STCF,describes conceptual designs of the STCF detector system,and discusses future plans for detector R&D and physics case studies.