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author Keren, Itai
Webb, Tatiana A.
Zhang, Shuai
Xu, Jikai
Sun, Dihao
Kim, Brian S. Y.
Shin, Dongbin
Zhang, Songtian S.
Zhang, Junhe
Pereira, Giancarlo
Yao, Juntao
Okugawa, Takuya
Michael, Marios H.
Boström, Emil Viñas
Edgar, James H.
Wolf, Stuart
Julian, Matthew
Prasankumar, Rohit P.
Miyagawa, Kazuya
Kanoda, Kazushi
Gu, Genda
Cothrine, Matthew
Mandrus, David
Buzzi, Michele
Cavalleri, Andrea
Dean, Cory R.
Kennes, Dante M.
Millis, Andrew J.
Li, Qiang
Sentef, Michael A.
Rubio, Angel
Pasupathy, Abhay N.
Basov, Dmitri N.
author_facet Keren, Itai
Webb, Tatiana A.
Zhang, Shuai
Xu, Jikai
Sun, Dihao
Kim, Brian S. Y.
Shin, Dongbin
Zhang, Songtian S.
Zhang, Junhe
Pereira, Giancarlo
Yao, Juntao
Okugawa, Takuya
Michael, Marios H.
Boström, Emil Viñas
Edgar, James H.
Wolf, Stuart
Julian, Matthew
Prasankumar, Rohit P.
Miyagawa, Kazuya
Kanoda, Kazushi
Gu, Genda
Cothrine, Matthew
Mandrus, David
Buzzi, Michele
Cavalleri, Andrea
Dean, Cory R.
Kennes, Dante M.
Millis, Andrew J.
Li, Qiang
Sentef, Michael A.
Rubio, Angel
Pasupathy, Abhay N.
Basov, Dmitri N.
contents Is it feasible to alter the ground state properties of a material by engineering its electromagnetic environment? Inspired by theoretical predictions, experimental realizations of such cavity-controlled properties without optical excitation are beginning to emerge. Here, we devised and implemented a novel platform to realize cavity-altered materials. Single crystals of hyperbolic van der Waals (vdW) compounds provide a resonant electromagnetic environment with enhanced density of photonic states and prominent mode confinement. We interfaced hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) with the molecular superconductor $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br ($κ$-ET). The frequencies of infrared (IR) hyperbolic modes of hBN match the IR-active carbon-carbon stretching molecular resonance of ($κ$-ET) implicated in superconductivity. Nano-optical data supported by first-principles molecular Langevin dynamics simulations confirm the presence of resonant coupling between the hBN hyperbolic cavity modes and the carbon-carbon stretching mode in ($κ$-ET). Meissner effect measurements via magnetic force microscopy demonstrate a strong suppression of superfluid density near the hBN/($κ$-ET) interface. Non-resonant control heterostructures, including RuCl$_3$/($κ$-ET) and hBN/$\text{Bi}_2\text{Sr}_2\text{CaCu}_2\text{O}_{8+x}$, do not display the superfluid suppression. These observations suggest that hBN/($κ$-ET) realizes a cavity-altered superconducting ground state. Our work highlights the potential of dark cavities devoid of external photons for engineering electronic ground state properties of complex quantum materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_17378
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cavity-altered superconductivity
Keren, Itai
Webb, Tatiana A.
Zhang, Shuai
Xu, Jikai
Sun, Dihao
Kim, Brian S. Y.
Shin, Dongbin
Zhang, Songtian S.
Zhang, Junhe
Pereira, Giancarlo
Yao, Juntao
Okugawa, Takuya
Michael, Marios H.
Boström, Emil Viñas
Edgar, James H.
Wolf, Stuart
Julian, Matthew
Prasankumar, Rohit P.
Miyagawa, Kazuya
Kanoda, Kazushi
Gu, Genda
Cothrine, Matthew
Mandrus, David
Buzzi, Michele
Cavalleri, Andrea
Dean, Cory R.
Kennes, Dante M.
Millis, Andrew J.
Li, Qiang
Sentef, Michael A.
Rubio, Angel
Pasupathy, Abhay N.
Basov, Dmitri N.
Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Is it feasible to alter the ground state properties of a material by engineering its electromagnetic environment? Inspired by theoretical predictions, experimental realizations of such cavity-controlled properties without optical excitation are beginning to emerge. Here, we devised and implemented a novel platform to realize cavity-altered materials. Single crystals of hyperbolic van der Waals (vdW) compounds provide a resonant electromagnetic environment with enhanced density of photonic states and prominent mode confinement. We interfaced hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) with the molecular superconductor $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br ($κ$-ET). The frequencies of infrared (IR) hyperbolic modes of hBN match the IR-active carbon-carbon stretching molecular resonance of ($κ$-ET) implicated in superconductivity. Nano-optical data supported by first-principles molecular Langevin dynamics simulations confirm the presence of resonant coupling between the hBN hyperbolic cavity modes and the carbon-carbon stretching mode in ($κ$-ET). Meissner effect measurements via magnetic force microscopy demonstrate a strong suppression of superfluid density near the hBN/($κ$-ET) interface. Non-resonant control heterostructures, including RuCl$_3$/($κ$-ET) and hBN/$\text{Bi}_2\text{Sr}_2\text{CaCu}_2\text{O}_{8+x}$, do not display the superfluid suppression. These observations suggest that hBN/($κ$-ET) realizes a cavity-altered superconducting ground state. Our work highlights the potential of dark cavities devoid of external photons for engineering electronic ground state properties of complex quantum materials.
title Cavity-altered superconductivity
topic Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.17378