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Title: Collapse of superconductivity in cuprates via ultrafast quenching of phase coherence

Journal Article · · Nature Materials
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [5];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [1]
  1. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy and Quantum Matter Inst.
  2. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy and Quantum Matter Inst.; Max Planck Inst. for Solid State Research, Stuttgart (Germany); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Catholic Univ. of the Sacred Heart, Brescia (Italy). Dept. of Mathematics and Physics and Interdisciplinary Lab. for Advanced Materials Physics (ILAMP)
  4. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy and Quantum Matter Inst.; Max Planck Inst. for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany)
  5. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
  6. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.; Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

The possibility of driving phase transitions in low-density condensates through the loss of phase coherence alone has far-reaching implications for the study of quantum phases of matter. This has inspired the development of tools to control and explore the collective properties of condensate phases via phase fluctuations. Electrically gated oxide interfaces, ultracold Fermi atoms and cuprate superconductors, which are characterized by an intrinsically small phase stiffness, are paradigmatic examples where these tools are having a dramatic impact. In this study, we use light pulses shorter than the internal thermalization time to drive and probe the phase fragility of the Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ cuprate superconductor, completely melting the superconducting condensate without affecting the pairing strength. The resulting ultrafast dynamics of phase fluctuations and charge excitations are captured and disentangled by time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. This work demonstrates the dominant role of phase coherence in the superconductor-to-normal state phase transition and offers a benchmark for non-equilibrium spectroscopic investigations of the cuprate phase diagram.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Emergent Superconductivity (CES); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Science & Engineering Division; Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR); Catholic Univ. of the Sacred Heart, Brescia (Italy); Max Planck-UBC-UTokyo Centre for Quantum Materials (CQM); Canada First Research Excellence Fund; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Killam Fellowships Program; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; Canada Research Chairs Program; Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI); Canadian Inst. for Advanced Research (CIFAR); Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; AC02-98CH10886; Prot. 2015C5SEJJ001; D.1; D.2.2; D.3.1; GBMF4779; P300P2-164649
OSTI ID:
1440896
Report Number(s):
BNL-205749-2018-JAAM
Journal Information:
Nature Materials, Vol. 17, Issue 5; ISSN 1476-1122
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (12)

Emergence of pseudogap from short-range spin-correlations in electron-doped cuprates journal January 2020
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and its application to topological materials journal August 2019
A tunable time-resolved spontaneous Raman spectroscopy setup for probing ultrafast collective excitation and quasiparticle dynamics in quantum materials journal July 2018
Cavity-enhanced high harmonic generation for extreme ultraviolet time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy journal August 2019
Superfluid stiffness in cuprates: Effect of Mott transition and phase competition journal September 2019
Excitonic and lattice contributions to the charge density wave in 1 T TiS e 2 revealed by a phonon bottleneck journal September 2019
Ultrafast electron calorimetry uncovers a new long-lived metastable state in 1 T -TaSe 2 mediated by mode-selective electron-phonon coupling journal March 2019
Direct determination of mode-projected electron-phonon coupling in the time domain journal December 2019
Emergence of pseudogap from short-range spin-correlations in electron doped cuprates text January 2018
Ultrafast electron calorimetry uncovers a new long-lived metastable state in 1T-TaSe$_2$ mediated by mode-selective electron-phonon coupling text January 2019
Direct determination of mode-projected electron-phonon coupling in the time-domain text January 2019
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and its application to topological materials text January 2021