Possible light-induced superconductivity in metallic K3C60

Conference item

We report possible light-induced superconductivity in the organic molecular solid K3C60, a superconductor at equilibrium below Tc=20 K. In our experiment we excited this alkali-doped fulleride with strong femtosecond pulses, tuned to be resonant with local molecular vibrational modes. By means of THz time-domain spectroscopy, we detected the pump-induced changes in the conductivity spectrum as a function of pump-probe time delay. Strikingly, at temperatures up to 100 K, we measured a light-induced response with the same optical properties of the equilibrium superconductor. An interpretation in terms of non-linear coupling between different vibrational modes may give hints to explain this emergent physics away of equilibrium.

Authors: Cantaluppi, A; Mitrano, M; Nicoletti, D; Kaiser, S; Perucchi, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Host title: International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves, IRMMW-THz
• Journal: International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves, IRMMW-THz.
• Publication date: 2016-12-01
• Acceptance date: 2016-06-15
• DOI: 10.1109/IRMMW-THz.2016.7758696
• ISSN: 2162-2027 and 2162-2035
• ISBN: 9781467384858