Pressure-induced reemergence of superconductivity in BaIr_(2)Ge_(7)and Ba_(3)Ir_(4)Ge_(16)with cage structures

摘要

Clathrate-like or caged compounds have attracted great interest owing to their structural flexibility,as well as their fertile physical properties.Here,we report the pressure-induced reemergence of superconductivity in BaIr2Ge7 and Ba3Ir4Ge16,two new caged superconductors with two-dimensional building blocks of cage structures.After suppression of the ambient-pressure superconducting(SC-I)states,new superconducting(SC-II)states emerge unexpectedly,with Tc increased to a maximum of 4.4 and 4.0 K for BaIr2Ge7 and Ba3Ir4Ge16,respectively.Combined with high-pressure synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman measurements,we propose that the reemergence of superconductivity in these caged superconductors can be ascribed to a pressure-induced phonon softening linked to cage shrinkage.