Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T c
Abstract Inspired by the striking discovery of metastable superconductivity in K3C60 at 100K, far above T c = 20 K, we discuss possible mechanisms for long-lived, photo-induced superconductivity. Starting from a model of optically-driven Raman phonons coupled to inter-band electronic transitions, we...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Series: | npj Quantum Materials |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00750-x |
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| author | Sambuddha Chattopadhyay Christian J. Eckhardt Dante M. Kennes Michael A. Sentef Dongbin Shin Angel Rubio Andrea Cavalleri Eugene A. Demler Marios H. Michael |
| author_facet | Sambuddha Chattopadhyay Christian J. Eckhardt Dante M. Kennes Michael A. Sentef Dongbin Shin Angel Rubio Andrea Cavalleri Eugene A. Demler Marios H. Michael |
| author_sort | Sambuddha Chattopadhyay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Inspired by the striking discovery of metastable superconductivity in K3C60 at 100K, far above T c = 20 K, we discuss possible mechanisms for long-lived, photo-induced superconductivity. Starting from a model of optically-driven Raman phonons coupled to inter-band electronic transitions, we develop a microscopic mechanism for photo-controlling the pairing interaction. Leveraging this mechanism, we first investigate long-lived superconductivity arising from the thermodynamic metastable trapping of the driven phonon. We then propose an alternative route, where the superconducting gap created by an optical drive leads to a dynamical bottleneck in the equilibration of quasi-particles. We conclude by discussing the implications of both scenarios for experiments that can be used to discriminate between them. Our work provides falsifiable explanations for the nanosecond-scale photo-induced superconductivity found in K3C60, while simultaneously offering a theoretical basis for exploring metastable superconductivity in other quantum materials. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e19d8500632f4fd09727c8d8b4dfb496 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2397-4648 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Quantum Materials |
| spelling | doaj-art-e19d8500632f4fd09727c8d8b4dfb4962025-08-20T02:10:17ZengNature Portfolionpj Quantum Materials2397-46482025-03-0110111210.1038/s41535-025-00750-xMetastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T cSambuddha Chattopadhyay0Christian J. Eckhardt1Dante M. Kennes2Michael A. Sentef3Dongbin Shin4Angel Rubio5Andrea Cavalleri6Eugene A. Demler7Marios H. Michael8Lyman Laboratory, Department of Physics, Harvard UniversityMax Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH ZürichMax Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)Abstract Inspired by the striking discovery of metastable superconductivity in K3C60 at 100K, far above T c = 20 K, we discuss possible mechanisms for long-lived, photo-induced superconductivity. Starting from a model of optically-driven Raman phonons coupled to inter-band electronic transitions, we develop a microscopic mechanism for photo-controlling the pairing interaction. Leveraging this mechanism, we first investigate long-lived superconductivity arising from the thermodynamic metastable trapping of the driven phonon. We then propose an alternative route, where the superconducting gap created by an optical drive leads to a dynamical bottleneck in the equilibration of quasi-particles. We conclude by discussing the implications of both scenarios for experiments that can be used to discriminate between them. Our work provides falsifiable explanations for the nanosecond-scale photo-induced superconductivity found in K3C60, while simultaneously offering a theoretical basis for exploring metastable superconductivity in other quantum materials.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00750-x |
| spellingShingle | Sambuddha Chattopadhyay Christian J. Eckhardt Dante M. Kennes Michael A. Sentef Dongbin Shin Angel Rubio Andrea Cavalleri Eugene A. Demler Marios H. Michael Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T c npj Quantum Materials |
| title | Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T c |
| title_full | Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T c |
| title_fullStr | Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T c |
| title_full_unstemmed | Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T c |
| title_short | Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above T c |
| title_sort | metastable photo induced superconductivity far above t c |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00750-x |
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