Characterization of photoinduced normal state through charge density wave in superconducting YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>6.67</sub>.

Jang, Hoyoung; Song, Sanghoon; Kihara, Takumi; Liu, Yijin; Lee, Sang-Jun; Park, Sang-Youn; Kim, Minseok; Kim, Hyeong-Do et al. · Sci Adv · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The normal state of high-<i>T</i><sub>c</sub> cuprates has been considered one of the essential topics in high-temperature superconductivity research. However, compared to the high magnetic field study of it, understanding a photoinduced normal state remains elusive. Here, we explore a photoinduced normal state of YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>6.67</sub> through a charge density wave (CDW) with time-resolved resonant soft x-ray scattering, as well as a high magnetic field x-ray scattering. In the nonequilibrium state where people predict a quenched superconducting state based on the previous optical spectroscopies, we experimentally observed a similar analogy to the competition between superconductivity and CDW shown in the equilibrium state. We further observe that the broken pairing states in the superconducting CuO<sub>2</sub> plane via the optical pump lead to nucleation of three-dimensional CDW precursor correlation. Ultimately, these findings provide a critical clue that the characteristics of the photoinduced normal state show a solid resemblance to those under magnetic fields in equilibrium conditions.