Dynamical decoherence of the light induced interlayer coupling in YB a2 C u3 O6+δ

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • C. R. Hunt - , Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, University of California at Berkeley (Author)
  • D. Nicoletti - , Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (Author)
  • S. Kaiser - , Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, University of Stuttgart (Author)
  • D. Pröpper - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • T. Loew - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • J. Porras - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • B. Keimer - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • A. Cavalleri - , Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, University of Oxford (Author)

Abstract

Optical excitation of apical oxygen vibrations in YBa2Cu3O6+δ has been shown to enhance its c axis superconducting-phase rigidity, as evidenced by a transient blueshift of the equilibrium interbilayer Josephson plasma resonance. Surprisingly, a transient c axis plasma mode could also be induced above Tc by the same apical oxygen excitation, suggesting light activated superfluid tunneling throughout the pseudogap phase of YBa2Cu3O6+δ. However, despite the similarities between the transient plasma mode above Tc and the equilibrium Josephson plasmon, alternative explanations involving high-mobility quasiparticle transport should be considered. Here, we report an extensive study of the relaxation of the light induced plasmon into the equilibrium incoherent phase. These new experiments allow for a critical assessment of the nature of this mode. We determine that the transient plasma relaxes through a collapse of its coherence length rather than its carrier (or superfluid) density. These observations are not easily reconciled with quasiparticle interlayer transport and rather support transient superfluid tunneling as the origin of the light induced interlayer coupling in YBa2Cu3O6+δ.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number224303
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume94
Issue number22
Publication statusPublished - 12 Dec 2016
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-9862-2788/work/142255356