Exploring superconductivity under strong coupling with the vacuum electromagnetic field
Strong light-matter interactions have generated considerable interest as a means to manipulate material properties. Here, we explore this possibility with the molecular superconductor Rb3C60 under vibrational strong coupling (VSC) to surface plasmon polaritons. By placing the superconductor-surface plasmon system in a SQUID magnetometer, we find that the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) increases from 30 to 45 K at normal pressures under VSC, displaying a well-defined Meissner effect. A simple theoretical framework is provided to understand these results based on an enhancement of the electron-phonon coupling. This proof-of-principle study opens a new tool box to not only modify superconducting materials but also to understand the mechanistic details of different superconductors.
Authors
- Kalaivanan Nagarajan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2933-9951)
- Cyriaque Genet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0672-7406)
- Anoop Thomas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8702-4934)
- Marcus Seidel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6246-1772)
- Sören Schlittenhardt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9294-0272)
- Thibault Chervy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2961-6805)
- Mario Ruben (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7718-7016)
- Jérôme Robert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1183-8007)
- Guido Pupillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1549-0386)
- Johannes Schachenmayer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9420-5768)
- Eloı̈se Devaux (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3220-7156)
- Thomas W. Ebbesen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3999-1636)
- Tingting Ruan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3348-0421)
- Guillaume Rogez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9006-7273)
- David Hagenmüller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4129-9312)
- Stefan Schütz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5148-9999)
- Marc Drillon
Institutions
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
- Institute of Nanotechnology (GB)
- Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (FR)
- Université de Strasbourg (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Journal of Chemical Physics
- Published
- 2025-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0231202
- Citations
- 55
- Primary Topic
- Strong Light-Matter Interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 23.69
Funders
- Centre International de Recherche aux Frontières de la Chimie
- Equipex
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- China Scholarship Council
- Laboratoires d'excellence Nanostructures en Interaction avec leur Environnement
- QuantERA
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
- European Research Council