Intercalant-driven superconductivity in YbC6 and CaC6 -: art. no. 227001

Recently discovered superconductivity in YbC6 and CaC6, at temperatures substantially higher than previously known for intercalated graphites, raises several new questions. (1) Is the mechanism considerably different from that of previously known intercalated graphites? (2) If superconductivity is conventional, what are the relevant phonons? (3) Given the extreme similarity between YbC6 and CaCa6, why are their critical temperatures so different? We address these questions on the basis of first-principles calculations and conclude that coupling with intercalant phonons is likely to be the main force for superconductivity in YbC6 and CaC6, but not in alkaline-intercalated compounds, and explain the difference in T-c by the "isotope effect" due to the difference in Yb and Ca atomic masses.