Pressure-Induced Superconductivity in Cesium and Yttrium

Abstract

Superconductivity has been observed in a high-pressure phase of cesium. Yttrium, normal at zero pressure down to millidegree temperatures, shows pressure-induced superconductivity above 110 kbar, apparently without change in crystal structure. Superconductivity, once restricted to the puzzling case of lanthanum in this part of the periodic system, turns out to be the general phenomenon when we apply pressure.