A density functional study of pressure induced superconductivity in P and its implication for spintronics

The stability of high-pressure phases of P has been studied using density functional theory and the local density approximation. Using a linear response technique, we have calculated the phonon spectrum and electron-phonon interaction for bcc P and predict it to be superconducting with $T_c$ of 19 K. We propose that this phase might be realized in epitaxial thin films using templates such as V(100), Fe(100) or Cr(100) relevant to spintronics applications.