Gap enhancement in phonon-irradiated superconducting tin films

We have measured the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of tin-tin tunnel junctions driven out of equilibrium by a flux of near-thermal phonons from a heater. The reduced ambient temperature was T/T/sub c/ = 0.41. The nonequilibrium I-V curves are compared to equilibrium thermal I-V curves at an elevated temperature chosen to match the total number of quasiparticles. The nonequilibrium curves show a smaller current near zero bias and a larger gap than the thermal curves. This is the first experimental evidence of phonon-induced gap enhancement far below T/sub c/. The results are discussed in terms of the coupled kinetic equations of Chang and Scalapino.