Dynamical Cooper pairing in non-equilibrium electron-phonon systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong non-equilibrium driving of electron-phonon systems can transiently enhance superconductivity by increasing the pairing interaction despite increased scattering, offering insights into light-induced high-temperature superconductivity.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical analysis of non-equilibrium electron-phonon systems showing how light can enhance superconducting transition temperatures through competing effects.

Findings

Enhanced superconducting transition temperature in non-equilibrium states

Competition between increased pairing and scattering effects

Potential explanation for light-induced superconductivity phenomena

Abstract

We analyze Cooper pairing instabilities in strongly driven electron-phonon systems. The light-induced non-equilibrium state of phonons results in a simultaneous increase of the superconducting coupling constant and the electron scattering. We demonstrate that the competition between these effects leads to an enhanced superconducting transition temperature in a broad range of parameters. Our results may explain the observed transient enhancement of superconductivity in several classes of materials upon irradiation with high intensity pulses of terahertz light, and may pave new ways for engineering high-temperature light-induced superconducting states.