Strong superconductivity with local Jahn-Teller phonons in C60 solids

Phys Rev Lett. 2003 Apr 25;90(16):167006. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.167006. Epub 2003 Apr 25.

Abstract

We analyze fulleride superconductivity at experimental doping levels, treating the electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions on an equal footing, and demonstrate that the Jahn-Teller phonons create a local (intramolecular) pairing which is surprisingly resistant to the Coulomb repulsion, despite the weakness of retardation in these low-bandwidth systems. The requirement for coherence throughout the solid then yields a very strong doping dependence to T(c), one consistent with experiment and much stronger than expected from standard Eliashberg theory.