Crystal structure of the superconducting phase of sulfur hydride

A superconducting critical temperature above 200 K has recently been discovered in H2S (or D2S) under high hydrostatic pressure(1,2). These measurements were interpreted in terms of a decomposition of these materials into elemental sulfur and a hydrogen-rich hydride that is responsible for the superconductivity, although direct experimental evidence for this mechanism has so far been lacking. Here we report the crystal structure of the superconducting phase of hydrogen sulfide (and deuterium sulfide) in the normal and superconducting states obtained by means of synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements, combined with electrical resistance measurements at both room and low temperatures. We find that the superconducting phase is mostly in good agreement with the theoretically predicted body-centred cubic (bcc) structure for H3S3. The presence of elemental sulfur is also manifest in the X-ray diffraction patterns, thus proving the decomposition mechanism of H2S to H3S + S under pressure(4-6).