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Pressure tuning of light-induced superconductivity in K3C60

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 15 May 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Optical excitation at terahertz frequencies has emerged as an effective means to dynamically manipulate complex materials. In the molecular solid K3C60, short mid-infrared pulses transform the high-temperature metal into a non-equilibrium state with the optical properties of a superconductor. Here we tune this effect with hydrostatic pressure and find that the superconducting-like features gradually disappear at around 0.3 GPa. Reduction with pressure underscores the similarity with the equilibrium superconducting phase of K3C60, in which a larger electronic bandwidth induced by pressure is also 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 hypothesized previously, and rather extends all the way to room temperature.

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Fig. 1: Structure, equilibrium phase transition, and transient light-induced phase of K3C60.
Fig. 2: Equilibrium pressure dependence of superconducting K3C60.
Fig. 3: Pressure dependence of the transient optical properties of K3C60 at T = 100 K.
Fig. 4: Scaling of the σ1(ω) gap with external pressure.
Fig. 5: Pressure dependence of the extrapolated conductivity.
Fig. 6: Out-of-equilibrium phase diagram of fcc K3C60.

Change history

  • 15 May 2018

    In the version of this Article originally published, the superscript 6 indicating equally contributing authors was missing from M. Buzzi. This has now been corrected.

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to these results received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement 319286 (QMAC). We acknowledge support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via the excellence cluster The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging—Structure, Dynamics and Control of Matter at the Atomic Scale and Priority Programme SFB925. M.B. acknowledges financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation through an Early Postdoc Mobility Grant (P2BSP2_165352).

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Contributions

A. Cavalleri conceived the project together with M.M. and A. Cantaluppi. The time-resolved THz setup was built by A. Cantaluppi and M.B., who both made the pump–probe measurements and analysed the data with the support of G.J. and D.N. The equilibrium optical properties were measured by A. Cantaluppi and M.M., with the support of A.P. and P.D.P., and were then analysed by A. Cantaluppi and M.B. The samples were grown and characterized by D.P. and M.R. The manuscript was written by A. Cantaluppi, M.B., D.N. and A. Cavalleri, with input from all co-authors.

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Correspondence to A. Cavalleri.

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Supplementary Figures 1–11, Supplementary Tables 1 and 2, Supplementary References 1–12

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Cantaluppi, A., Buzzi, M., Jotzu, G. et al. Pressure tuning of light-induced superconductivity in K3C60. Nature Phys 14, 837–841 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0134-8

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