Superconductivity. Light-induced superconductivity using a photoactive electric double layer.

Electric double layers (EDLs) of ionic liquids have been used in superconducting field-effect transistors as nanogap capacitors. Because of the freezing of the ionic motion below ~200 kelvin, modulations of the carrier density have been limited to the high-temperature regime. Here we observe carrier-doping-induced superconductivity in an organic Mott insulator with a photoinduced EDL based on a photochromic spiropyran monolayer. Because the spiropyran can isomerize reversibly between nonionic and zwitterionic isomers through photochemical processes, two distinct built-in electric fields can modulate the carrier density even at cryogenic conditions.