Physics (Internal)

Steady-state superconductivity in electronic materials with repulsive interactions

This event is part of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.

We study the effect of laser driving on a minimal model for a hexagonal two-dimensional material with broken inversion symmetry. Through the application of circularly polarised light and coupling to a thermal free electron bath, the system is driven into a nonequilibrium steady state with asymmetric, nonthermal carrier populations in the two valleys. We show that, in this nonequilibrium state, interband superconducting correlations between electrons can develop both for attractive and repulsive electron-electron interactions. We discuss how our results apply, for example, to a topical class of materials: the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). This work opens the door to inducing superconductivity in a range of materials that were hitherto precluded from it.