Hydrogen-rich superconductors under extreme pressure: challenges, progress, and opportunities

The experimental discovery of highT_csuperconductivity in sulfur and lanthanum hydrides under extreme pressure has fueled the search for superconductivity at, and potentially beyond, room temperature in superhydrides. In the years that followed, the field has seen both rapid scientific progress and scrutiny, particularly following the retraction of several high-profile claims. This mini review attempts to provide a balanced overview of the progress made, challenges encountered, and opportunities presented that continue to reshape the research on superhydrides. This scrutiny has increased emphasis on experimental standards and scientific rigor. Emerging techniques, such as local quantum sensing, which is capable of spatially resolving magnetic responses, have provided more direct measurements of the Meissner effect, helping to address earlier verification controversies. On the theory front, predictions of new hydrides have shifted from binary toward ternary and higher systems, enabled by new tools such as high-throughput crystal structure prediction and machine-learning-accelerated screening. The enhanced exploration of compositional spaces has revealed new structural motifs, such as the 'alloy backbone', which utilizes a light-element subnetwork to provide additional precompression, revealing a pathway to stabilizing hydrogen-rich frameworks at reduced pressures. Concurrently, new ideas such as the fluxional hydrogen lattice, where electron-phonon coupling extends beyond involving only harmonic phonons to include collective excitations of a diffusive hydrogen sublattice, are refining the understanding of conventional superconductivity under extreme conditions. This mini review highlights representative developments along the way and organizes them within a chronicle of scientific advances. It concludes with a summary and discussion of key challenges and a perspective on the feasibility of ambient-condition superconductivity. More broadly, theoretical and experimental methodologies developed in the study of superhydrides are increasingly influencing materials discovery across condensed matter physics, extending well beyond the immediate pursuit of superconductivity under pressure.