Pressure Dependence of Superconductivity in Single-Phase K3C60.

ABSTRACT

The superconducting compound K(3)C(60) (with transition temperature T(c) = 19.3 kelvin at ambient pressure), formed as a single phase by reaction of alkali vapor with solids of the icosahedral C(60) molecule (buckminsterfullerene), shows a very large decrease of T(c) with increasing pressure. Susceptibility measurements on sintered pellets showing bulk superconductivity are reported up to 21 kilobars of pressure, where T(c) is already less than 8 kelvin. The results are consistent with a piling up of the density of states at the Fermi level.