Inversion of K$_3$C$_{60}$ Reflectance Data

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to extract the electron-phonon spectral density from optical conductivity data, demonstrating its application to K$_3$C$_{60}$ and supporting the role of electron-phonon interactions in superconductivity.

Contribution

It introduces a direct, non-iterative inversion technique for optical data to analyze electron-phonon interactions in superconductors.

Findings

Electron-phonon interaction likely causes superconductivity in K$_3$C$_{60}$.

The method provides qualitative insights without iterative procedures.

Application to experimental data confirms the technique's effectiveness.

Abstract

We outline a procedure for obtaining the electron-phonon spectral density by inversion of optical conductivity data, a process very similar in spirit to the McMillan-Rowell inversion of tunelling data. We assume both electron-impurity (elastic) and electron-phonon (inelastic) scattering processes. This procedure has the advantage that it can be utilized in the normal state. Furthermore, a very good qualitative result can be obtained explicitly, without iteration. We illustrate this technique on recently acquired far-infrared data in K$_3$C$_{60}$. We show that the electron-phonon interaction is most likely responsible for superconductivity in these materials.