Metastable photo-induced superconductivity far above Tc
Abstract Inspired by the striking discovery of metastable superconductivity in K 3 C 60 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 K 3 C 60 , while simultaneously offering a theoretical basis for exploring metastable superconductivity in other quantum materials.
Authors
- Christian Eckhardt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1011-4821)
- Dante Marvin Kennes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9838-6866)
- Sambuddha Chattopadhyay
- A. Cavalleri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3143-0850)
- Marios H. Michael (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4579-8792)
- Dongbin Shin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8073-2954)
- Eugene Demler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2499-632X)
- Ángel Rubio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2060-3151)
- Michael A. Sentef (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7946-0282)
Institutions
- Harvard University (US)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (KR)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (DE)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Quantum Materials
- Published
- 2025-03-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00750-x
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.29
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Army Research Office