  In an experiment in a diamond anvil cell utilizing helium pressure medium,
yttrium metal displays a superconducting transition temperature which increases
monotonically from Tc ? 3.5 K at 30 GPa to 17 K at 89.3 GPa, one of the highest
transition temperatures for any elemental superconductor. The pressure
dependence of Tc differs substantially from that observed in previous studies
under quasihydrostatic pressure to 30 GPa. Remarkably, the dependence of Tc on
relative volume V/Vo is linear over the entire pressure range above 33 GPa,
implying that higher values of Tc are likely at higher pressures. For the
trivalent metals Sc, Y, La, Lu there appears to be some correlation between Tc
and the ratio of the Wigner-Seitz radius to the ion core radius.
