Enhancing superconductivity in A3C60 fullerides
Abstract
Motivated by the recent experimental report of a possible light-induced superconductivity in
K3C60 at high temperature [Mitrano et al., Nature 530, 451 (2016)], we investigate theoretical mechanisms for enhanced superconductivity in A3C60 fullerenes. We find that an ‘interaction imbalance’
corresponding to a smaller value of the Coulomb matrix element for two of the molecular orbitals in
comparison to the third one, efficiently enhances superconductivity. Furthermore, we perform firstprinciple calculations of the changes in the electronic structure and in the screened Coulomb matrix
elements of K3C60 , brought in by the deformation associated with the pumped T1u intra-molecular
mode. We find that an interaction imbalance is indeed induced, with a favorable sign and magnitude for superconductivity enhancement. The physical mechanism responsible for this enhancement
consists in a stabilisation of the intra-molecular states containing a singlet pair, while preserving the
orbital fluctuations allowing for a coherent inter-orbital delocalization of the pair. Other perturbations have also been considered and found to be detrimental to superconductivity. The light-induced
deformation and ensuing interaction imbalance is shown to bring superconductivity further into the
strong-coupling regime.
Domains
Physics [physics]Origin | Publisher files allowed on an open archive |
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