Bypassing the lattice BCS-BEC crossover in strongly correlated superconductors: resilient coherence from multiorbital physics

Superconductivity emerges from the spatial coherence of a macroscopic condensate of Cooper pairs. Increasingly strong binding and localization of electrons into these pairs compromises the condensate's phase stiffness, thereby limiting critical temperatures - a phenomenon known as the BCS-BEC crossover in lattice systems. In this study, we report on an enhancement of superconductivity beyond the limits of the lattice BCS-BEC crossover realized in a multiorbital model of alkali-doped fullerides (A_3C_60). We show how strong correlations and multiorbital effects lead into a localized superconducting regime characterized by a short coherence length but robust stiffness and a domeless rise in critical temperature with increasing pairing interaction. These insights are derived from the development of a theoretical framework to calculate the fundamental length scales of superconductors, namely the coherence length (ξ_0) and the London penetration depth (λ_L), in microscopic theories and from first principles, even in presence of strong electron correlations.