Diffusion of nonequilibrium quasi-particles in a cuprate superconductor.

Gedik, N; Orenstein, J; Liang, Ruixing; Bonn, D A; Hardy, W N · Science · 2003

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We report a transport study of nonequilibrium quasi-particles in a high-transition-temperature cuprate superconductor using the transient grating technique. Low-intensity laser excitation (at a photon energy of 1.5 electron volts) was used to introduce a spatially periodic density of quasi-particles into a high-quality untwinned single crystal of YBa2Cu3O6.5. Probing the evolution of the initial density through space and time yielded the quasi-particle diffusion coefficient and the inelastic and elastic scattering rates. The technique reported here is potentially applicable to precision measurements of quasi-particle dynamics not only in cuprate superconductors but in other electronic systems as well.