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arXiv:1702.00952 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling from nonlinear electron-phonon coupling

Michael A. Sentef

Published May 8, 2017• 105 citations
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Abstract

We investigate an exact nonequilibrium solution of a two-site electron-phonon model, where an infrared-active phonon that is nonlinearly coupled to the electrons is driven by a laser field. The time-resolved electronic spectrum shows coherence-incoherence spectral weight transfer, a clear signature of light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling. The present study is motivated by recent evidence for enhanced electron-phonon coupling in pump-probe terahertz and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in bilayer graphene when driven near resonance with an infrared-active phonon mode [E. Pomarico et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 024304 (2017)], and by a theoretical study suggesting that transient electronic attraction arises from nonlinear electron-phonon coupling [D. M. Kennes et al., Nat. Phys. 13, 479 (2017)]. We show that a linear scaling of light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling with the pump field intensity emerges, in accordance with a time-nonlocal self-energy based on a mean-field decoupling using quasiclassical phonon coherent states. Finally, we demonstrate that this leads to enhanced double occupancies in accordance with an effective electron-electron attraction. Our results suggest that materials with strong phonon nonlinearities provide an ideal playground to achieve light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling and possibly light-induced superconductivity.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.95.205111

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We investigate an exact nonequilibrium solution of a two-site electron-phonon model, where an infrared-active phonon that is nonlinearly coupled to the electrons is driven by a laser field. The time-resolved electronic spectrum shows coherence-incoherence spectral weight transfer, a clear signature of light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling. The present study is motivated by recent evidence for enhanced electron-phonon coupling in pump-probe terahertz and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in bilayer graphene when driven near resonance with an infrared-active phonon mode [E. Pomarico et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 024304 (2017)], and by a theoretical study suggesting that transient electronic attraction arises from nonlinear electron-phonon coupling [D. M. Kennes et al., Nat. Phys. 13, 479 (2017)]. We show that a linear scaling of light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling with the pump field intensity emerges, in accordance with a time-nonlocal self-energy based on a mean-field decoupling using quasiclassical phonon coherent states. Finally, we demonstrate that this leads to enhanced double occupancies in accordance with an effective electron-electron attraction. Our results suggest that materials with strong phonon nonlinearities provide an ideal playground to achieve light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling and possibly light-induced superconductivity.
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We investigate the dynamics of a phonon-mediated superconductor driven out of equilibrium. The electronic hopping amplitude is ramped down in time, resulting in an increased electronic density of states. The dynamics of the coupled electron-phonon model is investigated by solving Migdal-Eliashberg equations for the double-time Keldysh Green's functions. The increase of the density of states near the Fermi level leads to an enhancement of superconductivity when the system thermalizes to the new state at the same temperature. We provide a time- and momentum-resolved view on this thermalization process and show that it involves fast processes associated with single-particle scattering and much slower dynamics associated with the superconducting order parameter. The importance of electron-phonon coupling for the rapid enhancement and the efficient thermalization of superconductivity is demonstrated, and the results are compared to a BCS time-dependent mean-field approximation.
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Recent experiments, in which terahertz (THz) light has been used to induce nonequilibrium superconducting states, have raised a number of intriguing fundamental questions. Theoretically, these experiments are most often described within the Floquet formalism, which suffers a number of well-known limitations (e.g., Floquet heating). Alternative approaches rely on heavy numerical methods. In this paper, we develop an analytical theory of nonequilibrium superconductivity that combines path integrals on the Kostantinov-Perel' time contour with adiabatic perturbation theory [G. Rigolin, G. Ortiz, and V. H. Ponce, Phys. Rev. A 78, 052508 (2008)]. We consider a general system of electrons and Raman phonons coupled by the Fr\"ohlich interaction, in the presence of a time-dependent external field which acts on the phonon subsystem. The latter is supposed to model the THz light-induced excitation of nonlinear interactions between infrared and Raman phonons. Assuming that the external field has a slow dependence on time, we derive equations for the dynamical superconducting gap, calculating the leading adiabatic term and the first nonadiabatic correction. Our nonequilibrium formulas can be solved numerically with a minimal increase of computational complexity with respect to that needed to calculate the superconducting gap at equilibrium.