High-temperature superconductivity induced by the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger electron-phonon coupling

Abstract

Experimental quest for high-temperature and room-temperature superconductivity (SC) at ambient pressure has been a long-standing research theme in physics. It has also been desired to construct reliable microscopic mechanisms that may achieve high-temperature SC. Here we systematically explore SC in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) electron-phonon coupling models by performing numerically-exact quantum Monte-Carlo simulations. Our results reliably showed that superconducting $T_c$ of the SSH models is high, remarkably higher than those in the Holstein models, particularly in strong electron-phonon coupling regime. This is mainly because SSH phonons can not only induce strong pairing between electrons but also help the phase coherence of Cooper pairs, thus realizing higher $T_c$. As mechanism of higher-$T_c$ of the SSH models could be potentially relevant to realistic materials, it paves a promising way to find higher-temperature SC in the future.