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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Pressure tuning of light-induced superconductivity in K3C60
A. CantaluppiMichele BuzziAndrea CavalleriAndrea CavalleriDaniele PontiroliMatteo MitranoMauro RiccòP. Di PietroAndrea PerucchiGregor JotzuDaniele Nicolettisubject
PhysicsSuperconductivityCondensed matter physicsStrongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)Terahertz radiationCondensed Matter - SuperconductivityBandwidth (signal processing)Hydrostatic pressureGeneral Physics and AstronomyFOS: Physical sciences02 engineering and technology021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology01 natural sciencesArticleSuperconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated ElectronsMolecular solidPairingCondensed Matter::Superconductivity0103 physical sciencesPressure tuning010306 general physics0210 nano-technologyExcitationdescription
Optical excitation at terahertz frequencies has emerged as an effective means to manipulate complex solids dynamically. In the molecular solid K3C60, coherent excitation of intramolecular vibrations was shown to transform the high temperature metal into a non-equilibrium state with the optical conductivity of a superconductor. Here we tune this effect with hydrostatic pressure, and we find it to disappear around 0.3 GPa. Reduction with pressure underscores the similarity with the equilibrium superconducting phase of K3C60, in which a larger electronic bandwidth is detrimental for pairing. Crucially, our observation excludes alternative interpretations based on a high-mobility metallic phase. The pressure dependence also suggests that transient, incipient superconductivity occurs far above the 150 K hypothesised previously, and rather extends all the way to room temperature.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-16 | Nature physics |