We report on band-dependent quasiparticle dynamics in Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ ($T_c = 37 K$) measured using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy. In the superconducting state, we observe two distinct relaxation processes: a fast component whose decay rate increases linearly with excitation density and a slow component with an excitation density independent decay rate. We argue that these two components reflect the recombination of quasiparticles in the two hole bands through intraband and interband processes. We also find that the thermal recombination rate of quasiparticles increases quadratically with temperature. The temperature and excitation density dependence of the decays indicates fully gapped hole bands and nodal or very anisotropic electron bands.
We present a theory for the time-resolved optical spectroscopy of high-temperature superconductors at high excitation densities with strongly anisotropic electron-phonon coupling. A signature of the strong coupling between the out-of-plane, out-of-phase O buckling mode ($B_{1g}$) and electronic states near the antinode is observed as a higher-energy peak in the time-resolved optical conductivity and Raman spectra, while no evidence of the strong coupling between the in-plane Cu-O breathing mode and nodal electronic states is observed. More interestingly, it is observed that under appropriate c…
High-$T_c$ cuprate superconductors are characterized by a strong momentum-dependent anisotropy between the low energy excitations along the Brillouin zone diagonal (nodal direction) and those along the Brillouin zone face (antinodal direction). Most obvious is the d-wave superconducting gap, with the largest magnitude found in the antinodal direction and no gap in the nodal direction. Additionally, while antinodal quasiparticle excitations appear only below $T_c$, superconductivity is thought to be indifferent to nodal excitations as they are regarded robust and insensitive to $T_c$. Here we r…
We report transient optical signatures of the orbital-selective Mottness in superconducting KxFe2-ySe2 crystals by using dual-color pump-probe spectroscopy. Besides multi-exponential decay recovery dynamics of photo-induced quasiparticles, a damped oscillatory component due to coherent acoustic phonons emerges when the superconducting phase is suppressed by increasing the temperature or excitation power. The oscillatory component diminishes with significant enhancement of a slow decay component upon raising temperature to 150-160 K. These results are in consistence with the picture of orbital-…
We report on a c-axis polarized optical measurement on a Ba$_{0.67}$K$_{0.33}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ single crystal. We find that the c-axis optical response is significantly different from that of high-T$_c$ cuprates. The experiments reveal an anisotropic three-dimensional optical response with the absence of the Josephson plasma edge in R($ω$) in the superconducting state. Furthermore, different from the ab-plane optical response, a large residual quasiparticle population down to $T\sim\frac{1}{5}T_c$ was observed in the c-axis polarized reflectance measurement. We elaborate that there exist nodes for…
Experiments show that the Cooper pair transport in the insulator phase that forms at thin film superconductor to insulator transitions (SIT) is simply activated. This activated behavior depends on the microscopic factors that drive the localization of the Cooper pairs. To test proposed models, we investigated how a perturbation that weakens Cooper pair binding, magnetic impurity doping, affects the characteristic activation energy, $T_0$. The data show that $T_0$ decreases monotonically with doping in films tuned farther from the SIT and increases and peaks in films that are closer to the SIT …
Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy is a powerful tool to study the nonequilibrium dynamics in high-Tc cuprate superconductors. The photo-induced quasiparticle (QP) dynamics revealed by pump-probe spectroscopy are sensitive to the near-Fermi level electronic structures. Here we review several selected examples to illustrate the enduring challenges including pairing glue, phase separation, and phase transitions in cuprate superconductors. We also present the data obtained on thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-δ in connection to these issues.
We investigate the behavior of quasiparticles in a hybrid electron turnstile with the aim of improving its performance as a metrological current source. The device is used to directly probe the density of quasiparticles and monitor their relaxation into normal metal traps. We compare different trap geometries and reach quasiparticle densities below 3um^-3 for pumping frequencies of 20 MHz. Our data show that quasiparticles are excited both by the device operation itself and by the electromagnetic environment of the sample. Our observations can be modelled on a quantitative level with a sequent…
We investigate the quasiparticle relaxation and low-energy electronic structure in undoped SmFeAsO and near-optimally doped SmFeAsO_{0.8}F_{0.2} single crystals - exhibiting spin-density wave (SDW) ordering and superconductivity respectively - using pump-probe femtosecond spectroscopy. In the undoped single crystals a single relaxation process is observed, showing a remarkable critical slowing down of the QP relaxation dynamics at the SDW transition temperature T_{SDW}\simeq125{K}. In the superconducting (SC) crystals multiple relaxation processes are present, with distinct SC state quasiparti…
CeCoIn5 is a heavy fermion superconductor with strong similarities to the high-Tc cuprates, including quasi-two-dimensionality, proximity to antiferromagnetism, and probable d-wave pairing arising from a non-Fermi-liquid normal state. Experiments allowing detailed comparisons of their electronic properties are of particular interest, but in most cases are difficult to realize, due to their very different transition temperatures. Here we use low temperature microwave spectroscopy to study the charge dynamics of the CeCoIn5 superconducting state. The similarities to cuprates, in particular to ul…
The pairing mechanism in the iron pnictides remains unresolved yet. One of the central issues is the structure of the superconducting order parameter which classifies the community into two different and highly disputed camps. On one hand the picture of pairing based on the magnetic origin predicts a sign reversal gap on the electron and hole Fermi pockets, leading to the S+- pairing. On the other hand, a more conventional S++ pairing gap was suggested based on the phonon or orbital fluctuation mediated pairing. In the superconducting state, the impurities may generate a unique pattern of loca…
Photoexcitations on a superconductor using ultrafast nir-infrared (NIR) pulses, whose energy is much higher than the superconducting energy gap, are expected to suppress/destroy superconductivity by breaking Cooper pairs and excite quasiparticles from occupied state to unoccupied state far above the Fermi level. This appears to be true only for small pumping fluence. Here we show that the intense NIR pumping has different effect. We perform an intense NIR pump, c-axis terahertz probe measurement on an electron-doped cuprate superconductor Pr$_{0.88}$LaCe$_{0.12}$CuO$_4$ with T$_c$=22 K. The me…
We study the generation of coherent phonons in a superconductor by ultrafast optical pump pulses. The nonequilibrium dynamics of the coupled Bogoliubov quasiparticle-phonon system after excitation with the pump pulse is analyzed by means of the density-matrix formalism with the phonons treated at a full quantum kinetic level. For ultrashort excitation pulses, the superconductor exhibits a nonadiabatic behavior in which the superconducting order parameter oscillates. We find that in this nonadiabatic regime the generation of coherent phonons is resonantly enhanced when the frequency of the orde…
We report a polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy study of the orbital dependence of the quasiparticles properties in the prototypical multi-band Fermi liquid Sr\textsubscript{2}RuO\textsubscript{4}. We show that the quasiparticle scattering rate displays $ω^{2}$ dependence as expected for a Fermi liquid. Besides, we observe a clear polarization-dependence in the energy and temperature dependence of the quasiparticle scattering rate and mass, with the $d_{xz/yz}$ orbital derived quasiparticles showing significantly more robust Fermi liquid properties than the $d_{xy}$ orbital derived ones. …
We measure the anisotropic mid-infrared response of electrons and phonons in bulk YBa2Cu3O7 after femtosecond photoexcitation. A line shape analysis of specific lattice modes reveals their transient occupation and coupling to the superconducting condensate. The apex oxygen vibration is strongly excited within 150 fs demonstrating that the lattice absorbs a major portion of the pump energy before the quasiparticles are thermalized. Our results attest to substantial electron-phonon scattering and introduce a powerful concept probing electron-lattice interactions in a variety of complex materials…
In this work, we investigated the nonadiabatic transport properties of the one-dimensional time-dependent superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) Josephson junction biased by a current source and driven by a high-frequency-ac-gate-potential applied to the normal-metal layer. BCS superconductors are considered and treated with the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation. Using Floquet theory, we compute the transmission coefficients and the Wigner-Smith delay times as a function of the incident energy and find that they display resonances when one of the electron or hole Floquet w…
We use time- and angle-resolved photoemission to measure the nodal non-equilibrium electronic states in various dopings of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$. We find that the initial pump-induced transient signal of these ungapped states is strongly affected by the onset of the superconducting gap at $T_c$, superconducting pairing fluctuations at $T_p$, and the pseudogap at $T^*$. Moreover, $T_p$ marks a suggestive threshold in the fluence-dependent transient signal, with the appearance of a critical fluence below $T_p$ that corresponds to the energy required to break apart all Cooper pairs. These…
We investigate the optical response to the THz pulses in the s-wave and ($s$+$p$)-wave superconducting semiconductor quantum wells by using the gauge-invariant optical Bloch equations, in which the gauge structure in the superconductivity is explicitly retained. By using the gauge transformation, not only can the microscopic description for the quasiparticle dynamics be realized, but also the dynamics of the condensate is included, with the superfluid velocity and the effective chemical potential naturally incorporated. We reveal that the superfluid velocity itself can contribute to the pump o…
We theoretically study the pump-probe response of nonequilibrium BCS superconductors coupled to optical phonons. For ultrashort pump pulses a nonadiabatic regime emerges, which is characterized by oscillations of the superconducting order parameter as well as by the generation of coherent phonons. Using the density-matrix formalism, we compute the pump-probe response in the nonadiabatic regime of the coupled Bogoliubov quasiparticle-phonon system and determine the signatures of the order parameter and of the phonon oscillations in the pump-probe conductivity. We find that the nonadiabatic dyna…
We probe the local quasiparticles density-of-states in micron-sized SmFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$ single-crystals by means of Scanning Tunnelling Spectroscopy. Spectral features resemble those of cuprates, particularly a dip-hump-like structure developed at energies larger than the gap that can be ascribed to the coupling of quasiparticles to a collective mode, quite likely a resonant spin mode. The energy of the collective mode revealed in our study decreases when the pairing strength increases. Our findings support spin-fluctuation-mediated pairing in pnictides.
Motivated by the recent development of terahertz pump-probe experiments, we investigate the short-time dynamics in superconductors with multiple attractive pairing channels. Studying a single-band square lattice model with spin-spin interaction as an example, we find the signatures of collective excitations of the pairing symmetries (known as Bardasis-Schrieffer modes) as well as the order parameter amplitude (Higgs mode) in the short-time dynamics of the spectral gap and quasiparticle distribution after an excitation by a pump pulse. We show that the polarization and intensity of the pulse ca…
It is proposed that the 50-70 meV dispersion anomaly (kink) in electron-doped cuprates revealed by recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments is caused by coupling with the spin fluctuation. We elaborate that the kink exists both along nodal and antinodal directions, and both in the superconducting and normal state. The renormalized effect for the density of states is also studied and the hump feature outside the superconducting coherent peak is established, consistent with recent scanning tunnelling microscopy experiments.
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has been performed on the single- to triple-layered Bi-family high-{\it T$_c$} superconductors (Bi$_2$Sr$_2$Ca$_{n-1}$Cu$_n$O$_{2n+4}$, $\it{n}$=1-3). We found a sharp quasiparticle peak as well as a pseudogap at the Fermi level in the triple-layered compound. Comparison among three compounds has revealed a universal rule that the characteristic energies of superconducting and pseudogap behaviors are scaled with the maximum {\it T$_c$}.
The fundamental excitations in superconductors - Bogoliubov quasiparticles - can be either a resource or a liability in superconducting devices: they are what enables photon detection in microwave kinetic inductance detectors, but they are a source of errors in qubits and electron pumps. To improve operation of the latter devices, ways to mitigate quasiparticle effects have been devised; in particular, combining different materials quasiparticles can be trapped where they do no harm and their generation can be impeded. We review recent developments in these mitigation efforts and discuss open …
Motivated by recent pump-probe experiments we consider the processes by which "hot" quasiparticles produced near the antinodes of a d-wave superconductor can relax. We show that in a large region of momentum space processes which break Cooper pairs are forbidden by energy and momentum conservation. Equilibration then occurs by scattering with thermal quasiparticles: Umklapp scattering is exponentially suppressed at low temperatures, but small-angle scattering leads to power-law behavior. By solving the Boltzmann equation analytically we make detailed predictions for the temperature and intensi…
We propose a pump probe experiment for detecting the d-wave superfluid and d-density wave phases of ultracold Fermions on an optical lattice. The pump consists of periodic modulations of the optical lattice intensity which creates quasiparticle pairs in these systems. The changes in the momentum distribution under the drive can be used to measure quasiparticle dispersion and gap anisotropy. Further, we show that the pattern of peaks and dips in the spin selective density-density correlation function provides a phase sensitive probe of the symmetry of the order parameter in these systems.
Recent experiments on single crystals of YNi$_2$B$_2$C have revealed the presence of point nodes in the superconducting energy gap Delta(k} at k = (1,0,0), (0,1,0), (-1,0,0), and (0,-1,0). In this paper we investigate the effects of impurity scattering on the quasiparticle spectrum in the vortex state of s+g-wave superconductors, which is found to be strongly modified in the presence of disorder. In particular, a gap in the quasiparticle energy spectrum is found to open even for infinitesimal impurity scattering, giving rise to exponentially activated thermodynamic response functions, such as …
We report on the nonequilibrium quasiparticle dynamics in BaFe$_2$As$_2$ on both the hole doped (Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$) and electron doped (BaFe$_{2-y}$Co$_y$As$_2$) sides of the phase diagram using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy. Below $T_c$, measurements conducted at low photoinjected quasiparticle densities in the optimally and overdoped Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$ samples reveal two distinct relaxation processes: a fast component whose decay rate increases linearly with excitation density and a slow component with an excitation density independent decay rate. We argue that these t…
Femtosecond pump probe experiments are reported on quasiparticle relaxation and recombination in YBa2Cu4O8 as a function of temperature and polarization. The data show a 2-component relaxation similar to YBa2Cu3O7-δ, one component being assocated with the superconducting transition, and the other with the pseudogap below T* The relaxation time tau_p associated with the pseudogap is found to be T-independent, while the relaxation time tau_g of the component obseved only below Tc exhibits a clear divergence near Tc. A strong polarisation anisotropy of the picosecond transient is observed below T…
We show that in the presence of a pseudogap, the spectral function in the superconducting state of the underdoped cuprates exhibits additional Bogoliubov quasiparticle peaks at both positive and negative energy which are revealed by the particle-hole asymmetry of the pseudogapped energy bands. This provides direct information on the unoccupied band via measurement of the occupied states. When sufficiently close, these Bogoliubov peaks will appear to merge with existing peaks leading to the anomalous observation, seen in experiment, that the carrier spectral density broadens with reduced temper…
In high-temperature superconductivity, the process that leads to the formation of Cooper pairs, the fundamental charge carriers in any superconductor, remains mysterious. We use a femtosecond laser pump pulse to perturb superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ, and study subsequent dynamics using time- and angle-resolved photoemission and infrared reflectivity probes. Gap and quasiparticle population dynamics reveal marked dependencies on both excitation density and crystal momentum. Close to the d-wave nodes, the superconducting gap is sensitive to the pump intensity and Cooper pairs recombine slowly.…
There is an ongoing debate about the nature of the bosonic excitations responsible for the quasiparticle self energy in high temperature superconductors -- are they phonons or spin fluctuations? We present a careful analysis of the bosonic excitations as revealed by the `kink' feature at 70 meV in angle resolved photoemission data using Eliashberg theory for a d-wave superconductor. Starting from the assumption that nodal quasiparticles are not coupled to the $(π,π)$ magnetic resonance, the sharp structure at $70 $meV can be assigned to phonons. We find that not only can we account for the shi…
We investigate the quasiparticle relaxation and low-energy electronic structure in undoped SrFe_2As_2 exhibiting spin-density wave (SDW) ordering using optical pump-probe femtosecond spectroscopy. A remarkable critical slowing down of the quasiparticle relaxation dynamics at the SDW transition temperature T_SDW = 200K is observed. From temperature dependence of the transient reflectivity amplitude we determine the SDW-state charge gap magnitude, 2Delta_SDW/k_BT_SDW=7.2+-1. The second moment of the Eliashberg function, lambda<(hbar omega)^2>=110+-10meV^2, determined from the relaxation time abo…
We present femtosecond time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopic studies of a pseudogap (PG) along with the superconducting (SC) gap in an overdoped iron pnictide Ca(Fe0.927Co0.073)2As2. It is seen that the temperature evolution of the photoexcited quasiparticle (QP) relaxation dynamics, coherently excited A1g-symmetric optical phonon and two acoustic phonon dynamics behave anomalously in the vicinity of the superconducting transition temperature Tc. A continuous change in the sign of the experimentally measured transient differential reflectivity Delta_R/R signal at the zero time-delay between t…
We report near and mid-infrared pump c-axis terahertz probe measurement on a superconducting single crystal La$_{1.905}$Ba$_{0.095}$CuO$_4$ with T$_c$=32 K. The measurement reveals that the pump-induced change occurs predominantly at the Josephson plasma edge position below T$_c$. Upon excited by the strong near-infrared pulses, the superconducting state is severely disturbed and incoherent quasiparticle excitations develop in frequency regime above the static plasma edge. However, within very short time delay ($\sim$1.5 ps) we observe the reappearance of a very sharp Josephson plasma edge at …
We report measurements of quasiparticle relaxation dynamics in the high-temperature superconductor (Ba,K)Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ in optimally doped, underdoped and undoped regimes. In the underdoped sample, spin-density wave (SDW) order forms at $\sim$85 K, followed by superconductivity at $\sim$ 28 K. We find the emergence of a normal-state order that suppresses SDW at a temperature $T^{\ast} \sim$ 60 K and argue that this normal-state order is a precursor to superconductivity.
We propose that the presence of a rotationally symmetric charge density wave (CDW) with the modulation of 4-lattice constant in high-$T_c$ superconductors is essentially responsible for an anomalous quasiparticle dispersion revealed recently by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments. We elaborate clearly that the nodal quasiparticle is well-defined at low energies, while the dispersion breaks up at the energy $E_1$ and reappears at the energy $E_2$. Our results are in good agreement with both the ARPES and scanning tunneling microscopy experiments.
Following recent progress in understanding the relaxation dynamics of photoexcited carriers in materials exhibiting a small gap in the low-energy excitation spectrum we have performed pump-probe measurements on near optimally doped Hg-1223. We show that the behavior is very similar as in optimally-doped YBCO, where the data can be interpreted with the coexisting presence of two energy gaps: normal state T-independent pseudogap and a mean-field-like collective gap, associated with intrinsic spatially inhomogeneous ground state. An important difference between the two compounds is found in the l…
We present analytic analyses for the joint density of states (JDOS) and the elastic scattering susceptibility (ESS) for d-wave superconductors under the linear dispersion approximation. The profile of the JDOS, determined by the curves on which the JDOS diverges, is found to be the envelope function related to the contour of constant energy of the Bogoliubov quasiparticles. We derive the explicit form of the envelope functions. The intrinsic relationship of the JDOS patten and the octet model of ESS is clearly revealed. It is also found that apexes of the envelope function coincide with the oc…
Conventional models of Josephson junction dynamics rely on the absence of low energy quasiparticle states due to a large superconducting gap. With this assumption the quasiparticle degrees of freedom become "frozen out" and the phase difference becomes the only free variable, acting as a fictitious particle in a local in time Josephson potential related to the adiabatic and non-dissipative supercurrent across the junction. In this article we develop a general framework to incorporate the effects of low energy quasiparticles interacting non-adiabatically with the phase degree of freedom. Such q…
We report results and analysis of time-resolved photoinduced reflectivity experiments on the cuprate superconductor YBa2Cu3O6.5. The sample, which has Tc=45 K, was characterized by a high degree of purity and Ortho II ordering. The change in reflectivity (Delta R) was induced and probed using pulses of 100 femtosecond duration and photon energy 1.55 eV from a Ti:Sapphire laser. We provide a detailed picture of the decay rate (gamma) of Delta R as a function of temperature T and pump intensity I. At low T, gamma decreases linearly with decreasing I, extrapolating to nearly zero in the limit tha…
Quasiparticle dynamics of FeSe single crystals revealed by dual-color transient reflectivity measurements (ΔR/R) provides unprecedented information on Fe-based superconductors. The amplitude of fast component in ΔR/R clearly tells a competing scenario between spin fluctuations and superconductivity. Together with the transport measurements, the relaxation time analysis further exhibits anomalous changes at 90 K and 230 K. The former manifests a structure phase transition as well as the associated phonon softening. The latter suggests a previously overlooked phase transition or crossover in FeS…
The parkerite-type ternary chalcogenide Bi$_2$Rh$_3$Se$_2$ was discovered to be a charge density wave (CDW) superconductor. However, there was a debate on whether the observed phase transition at 240 K could be attributed to the formation of CDW order. To address the issue, we performed optical spectroscopy and ultrafast pump-probe measurements on single crystal samples of Bi$_2$Rh$_3$Se$_2$. Our optical conductivity measurement reveals clearly the formation of an energy gap with associated spectral change only at low energies, yielding strong evidence for a CDW phase transition at 240 K. Time…
Nonequilibrium quasiparticle relaxation dynamics is reported in superconducting CaFe1.89Co0.11As2 single crystal using femtosecond time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy. The carrier dynamics reflects a three-channel decay of laser deposited energy with characteristic time scales varying from few hundreds of femtoseconds to order of few nanoseconds where the amplitudes and time-constants of the individual electronic relaxation components show significant changes in the vicinity of the spin density wave (T_SDW ~ 85 K) and superconducting (T_SC ~ 20 K) phase transition temperatures. The quasipart…
We follow the line of reasoning that hidden broken symmetries are the root of quantum oscillations observed in underdoped superconductors and examine the role of bilayer splitting and incommensuration. This is a view that eschews the notion of a featureless Mott liquid as the source of complexity. Instead, our view is grounded in a conventional Fermi surface and quasiparticles. We show that bilayer splitting and/or incommensurate $d$-density wave order can lead to many interesting results, in particular a splitting of the main frequency of the quantum oscillations.
We present a combined soft x-ray and high-resolution vacuum-ultraviolet angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of the electron-overdoped cuprate Pr$_{1.3-x}$La$_{0.7}$Ce$_{x}$CuO$_4$ (PLCCO). Demonstration of its highly two-dimensional band structure enabled precise determination of the in-plane self-energy dominated by electron-electron scattering. Through analysis of this self-energy and the Fermi-liquid cut-off energy scale, we find -- in contrast to hole-doped cuprates -- a momentum isotropic and comparatively weak electron correlation in PLCCO. Yet, the self-energies extracted fr…
We report ultrafast quasiparticle (QP) dynamics and coherent acoustic phonons in undoped CaFe_2As_2 iron pnictide single crystals exhibiting spin-density wave (SDW) and concurrent structural phase transition at temperature TSDW ~ 165 K using femtosecond time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy. The contributions in transient differential reflectivity arising from exponentially decaying QP relaxation and oscillatory coherent acoustic phonon mode show large variations in the vicinity of T_SDW. From the temperature-dependence of the QP recombination dynamics in the SDW phase, we evaluate a BCS-like …
We investigate quasiparticle relaxation dynamics in URu$_{2-x}$Fe$_{x}$Si$_{2}$ single crystals using ultrafast optical-pump optical-probe (OPOP) spectroscopy as a function of temperature ($T$) and Fe substitution ($x$), crossing from the hidden order (HO) phase ($x$ = 0) to the large moment antiferromagnet (LMAFM) phase ($x$ = 0.12). At low $T$, the dynamics for $x$ = 0 and $x$ = 0.12 are consistent with the low energy electronic structure of the HO and LMAFM phases that emerge from the high $T$ paramagnetic (PM) phase. In contrast, for $x$ = 0.1, two transitions occur over a narrow $T$ range…
We use quantum oscillation measurements to distinguish between spin and orbital components of the lowest energy quasiparticle excitations in YBa2Cu3O6.54, each of which couple differently to a magnetic field. Our measurements reveal the phase of the observed quantum oscillations to remain uninverted over a wide angular range, indicating that the twofold spin degeneracy of the Landau levels is virtually unaltered by the magnetic field. The inferred suppression of the spin degrees of freedom indicates a spin density-wave is responsible for creation of the small Fermi surface pockets in underdope…
In superconducting qubits, the interaction of the qubit degree of freedom with quasiparticles defines a fundamental limitation for the qubit coherence. We develop a theory of the pure dephasing rate Γ_ϕ caused by quasiparticles tunneling through a Josephson junction and of the inhomogeneous broadening due to changes in the occupations of Andreev states in the junction. To estimate Γ_ϕ, we derive a master equation for the qubit dynamics. The tunneling rate of free quasiparticles is enhanced by their large density of states at energies close to the superconducting gap. Nevertheless, we find that…
Understanding the thermodynamic properties of high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductors is a key step to establish a satisfactory theory of these materials. The electronic specific heat is highly unconventional, distinctly non-BCS, with remarkable doping-dependent features extending well beyond $T_c$. The pairon concept, bound holes in their local antiferromagnetic environment, has successfully described the tunneling and photoemission spectra. In this article, we show that the model explains the distinctive features of the entropy and specific heat throughout the temperature-doping phase diagram. Th…
