Steady-state superconductivity in electronic materials with repulsive interactions

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 polarized 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 steady state, interband superconducting correlations between electrons can develop independent of the sign of the electronic interactions. We discuss how our results apply, for example, to transition metal dichalcogenides. This work opens the door to technological applications of superconductivity in a range of materials that were hitherto precluded from it.