Journal Article

Tracking Cooper Pairs in a Cuprate Superconductor by Ultrafast Angle-Resolved Photoemission

Koralek, Jake D., Hinton, James P., Lanzara, Alessandra, Zhang, Wentao, Smallwood, Christopher L., Lee, Dung-Hai, Orenstein, Joseph, Jozwiak, Christopher, Eisaki, Hiroshi

2012

Overview

In high-temperature superconductivity, the process that leads to the formation of Cooper pairs, the fundamental charge carriers in any superconductor, remains mysterious. We used a femtosecond laser pump pulse to perturb superconducting Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂08+δ and studied subsequent dynamics using time and angle-resolved photoemission and infrared reflectivity probes. Gap and quasiparticle population dynamics revealed marked dependencies on both excitation density and crystal momentum. Close to the d-wave nodes, the superconducting gap was sensitive to the pump intensity, and Cooper pairs recombined slowly. Far from the nodes, pumping affected the gap only weakly, and recombination processes were faster. These results demonstrate a new window into the dynamical processes that govern quasiparticle recombination and gap formation in cuprates.

• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties / copper / Electronic structure / Exact sciences and technology / Fluence / Materials science / molecular dynamics / organometallic compounds / Photoelectric emission / Physics / Properties of type I and type II superconductors / Pumps / Quasiparticles / reaction mechanisms / Reflectance / Spectral index / Superconductivity / Superconductors / Time dependence