Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1909.04669 · Condensed Matter

Theory of Time-Resolved Optical Conductivity of Superconductors: Comparing Two Methods for Its Evaluation

John P. Revelle, Ankit Kumar, Alexander F. Kemper

Published Aug 27, 2019• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Time-resolved optical conductivity is an often used tool to interrogate quantum materials driven out of equilibrium. Theoretically calculating this observable is a complex topic with several approaches discussed in the literature. Using a nonequilibrium Keldysh formalism and a functional derivative approach to the conductivity, we present a comparison of two particular approaches to the calculation of the optical conductivity and their distinguishing features, as applied to a pumped superconductor. The two methods are distinguished by the relative motion of the probe and gate times; either the probe or gate time is kept fixed while the other is swept. We find that both the methods result in same qualitative features of the time-resolved conductivity after pump is over. However, calculating the conductivity by keeping the gate fixed removes artifacts inherent to the other method. We provide software that, based on data for the first method, is able to construct the second approach.

DOI
10.3390/condmat4030079

Related papers

Higgs oscillations in time-resolved optical conductivity

Ankit Kumar, Alexander F. Kemper

Driving superconductors out of equilibrium is a promising avenue to study their equilibrium properties as well as to control the superconducting state. Nonequilibrium superconductors are often studied using time-resolved optical conductivity measurements. Thus, the characterization of a superconducting state in a pump driven nonequilibrium state requires careful attention in the time domain. We calculate the time-resolved optical conductivity of a pumped superconducting state using a nonequilibrium Keldysh approach. Through functional derivation, the optical conductivity is obtained with full vertex corrections and used to characterize the transient superconducting state. The transient optical conductivity shows the suppression of the superconducting order parameter in the time domain. The subsequent recovery of the order parameter exhibits oscillatory behavior that corresponds to the Higgs amplitude mode, and may be seen in several parts of the spectrum.

arXiv:1902.09549•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Nov 21, 2019•19 citations

Numerical method to compute optical conductivity based on pump-probe simulations

Can Shao, Takami Tohyama, Hong‐Gang Luo +1 more

A numerical method to calculate optical conductivity based on a pump-probe setup is presented. Its validity and limits are tested and demonstrated via concrete numerical simulations on the half-filled one-dimensional extended Hubbard model both in and out of equilibrium. By employing either a steplike or a Gaussian-like probing vector potential, it is found that in nonequilibrium, the method in the narrow-probe-pulse limit can be identified with variant types of linear-response theory, which, in equilibrium, produce identical results. The observation reveals the underlying probe-pulse dependence of the optical conductivity calculations in nonequilibrium, which may have applications in the theoretical analysis of ultrafast spectroscopy measurements.

arXiv:1507.01200•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•May 23, 2016•58 citations

Theory of time-resolved optical spectroscopy on correlated electron systems

Martin Eckstein, Marcus Kollar

The real-time dynamics of interacting electrons out of equilibrium contains detailed microscopic information about electronically correlated materials, which can be read out with time-resolved optical spectroscopy. The reflectivity that is typically measured in pump-probe experiments is related to the nonequilibrium optical conductivity. We show how to express this quantity in terms of real-time Green's functions using dynamical mean-field theory. As an application we study the electrical response of the Falicov-Kimball model during the ultrafast buildup of the gapped phase at large interaction.

arXiv:0808.1005•Physical Review B•Nov 25, 2008•72 citations

Novel Non–Equilibrium Dynamics in Superconductors: Induced Superconductivity and Higgs Modes

Nikolaj Bittner

This thesis reports on theoretical investigations of the ultrafast nonequilibrium dynamics in superconductors. In particular, two nonequilibrium scenarios are modeled by combining several analytical and numerical methods: transient superconducting phase transition and collective excitations of a superconducting condensate. In the first part of the thesis the possibility to induce singlet superconducting correlations far from equilibrium is explored by applying time-dependent Lanczos algorithm to the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model. Here, the system is driven into a nonequilibrium state by (i) interaction quench and (ii) quench by pulse. In both cases the buildup of the superconducting correlations is studied in view of several correlation functions. Moreover, a transient Meissner effect, which reflects fingerprints of the induced superconductivity, is observed in calculations of the important for experiments time-dependent optical conductivity. In addition, the differences between nonequilibrium dynamics of the extended Hubbard model initiated by interaction quench and by pulse quench are discussed in detail. The second part is devoted to the excitation of collective modes in a superconductor out of equilibrium. First of all, focus is given to the properties of collective modes close to equilibrium conditions, where a linearized response can be expected. Within the framework of the (Nambu-) matrix kinetic theory in the clean limit a comprehensive gauge-invariant description of the collective modes associated with phase fluctuations of the order parameter is analytically formulated for the generalized case of two- band superconducting systems. Particular emphasis is on the application to the recently discovered noncentrosymmetric superconductors. A detailed analysis of the collective modes includes specification of the gauge mode (common to all superconductors) and the Leggett mode (collective fluctuations of the interband phase difference), and investigation of their subtle interplay in view of validity of the charge conservation law and the participation in the Anderson-Higgs mechanism. Further, the nonequilibrium excitation of the superconducting gaps for the case of two-band superconductors with singlet pairing correlations is investigated in a view of optical pump-probe experiments. For this purpose a semi-numerical method based on the density- matrix theory is formulated. In this case additional amplitude (Higgs) modes were identified, which allow to directly detect the properties of the superconducting condensates as a function of time. Moreover, a new interplay between the phase (Leggett) and amplitude (Higgs) modes is studied in detail. In particular it was found that the nonadiabatic excitation process leads to strong coupling between both modes. Finally, based on calculations of the time-dependent optical conductivity the prediction is made that the coupled Higgs and Leggett modes can be clearly visible in the pump-probe absorption spectra.

•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations

Theory of ultrafast nonequilibrium dynamics in d -wave superconductors

Julia Unterhinninghofen, Dirk Manske, A. Knorr

We use density-matrix theory to calculate the ultrafast dynamics of unconventional superconductors from a microscopic viewpoint. We calculate the time evolution of the optical conductivity as well as pump-probe spectra for a $d$-wave order parameter. Three regimes can be distinguished in the spectra. The Drude response at low photon energies is the only one of those which has been experimentally measured so far. At higher energies, we predict two more regimes: the pair-breaking peak, which is reduced as Cooper pairs are broken up by the exciting pulse, and a suppression above the pair-breaking peak due to nonequilibrium quasiparticles. Furthermore, we consider the influence of the electron-phonon coupling and derive rate equations that have been widely used so far.

arXiv:0707.1567•Physical Review B•May 22, 2008•34 citations

Interaction quench in the Hubbard model: Relaxation of the spectral function and the optical conductivity

Martin Eckstein, Marcus Kollar, Philipp Werner

We use nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory in combination with a recently developed Quantum Monte Carlo impurity solver to study the real-time dynamics of a Hubbard model which is driven out of equilibrium by a sudden increase in the on-site repulsion $U$. We discuss the implementation of the self-consistency procedure and some important technical improvements of the QMC method. The exact numerical solution is compared to iterated perturbation theory, which is found to produce accurate results only for weak interaction or short times. Furthermore, we calculate the spectral functions and the optical conductivity from a Fourier transform on the finite Keldysh contour, for which the numerically accessible time scales allow to resolve the formation of Hubbard bands and a gap in the strongly interacting regime. The spectral function, and all one-particle quantities that can be calculated from it, thermalize rapidly at the transition between qualitatively different weak- and strong-coupling relaxation regimes.

arXiv:0910.5674•Physical Review B•Mar 22, 2010•151 citations
Time-resolved optical conductivity is an often used tool to interrogate quantum materials driven out of equilibrium. Theoretically calculating this observable is a complex topic with several approaches discussed in the literature. Using a nonequilibrium Keldysh formalism and a functional derivative approach to the conductivity, we present a comparison of two particular approaches to the calculation of the optical conductivity and their distinguishing features, as applied to a pumped superconductor. The two methods are distinguished by the relative motion of the probe and gate times; either the probe or gate time is kept fixed while the other is swept. We find that both the methods result in same qualitative features of the time-resolved conductivity after pump is over. However, calculating the conductivity by keeping the gate fixed removes artifacts inherent to the other method. We provide software that, based on data for the first method, is able to construct the second approach.
Driving superconductors out of equilibrium is a promising avenue to study their equilibrium properties as well as to control the superconducting state. Nonequilibrium superconductors are often studied using time-resolved optical conductivity measurements. Thus, the characterization of a superconducting state in a pump driven nonequilibrium state requires careful attention in the time domain. We calculate the time-resolved optical conductivity of a pumped superconducting state using a nonequilibrium Keldysh approach. Through functional derivation, the optical conductivity is obtained with full vertex corrections and used to characterize the transient superconducting state. The transient optical conductivity shows the suppression of the superconducting order parameter in the time domain. The subsequent recovery of the order parameter exhibits oscillatory behavior that corresponds to the Higgs amplitude mode, and may be seen in several parts of the spectrum.
A numerical method to calculate optical conductivity based on a pump-probe setup is presented. Its validity and limits are tested and demonstrated via concrete numerical simulations on the half-filled one-dimensional extended Hubbard model both in and out of equilibrium. By employing either a steplike or a Gaussian-like probing vector potential, it is found that in nonequilibrium, the method in the narrow-probe-pulse limit can be identified with variant types of linear-response theory, which, in equilibrium, produce identical results. The observation reveals the underlying probe-pulse dependence of the optical conductivity calculations in nonequilibrium, which may have applications in the theoretical analysis of ultrafast spectroscopy measurements.
The real-time dynamics of interacting electrons out of equilibrium contains detailed microscopic information about electronically correlated materials, which can be read out with time-resolved optical spectroscopy. The reflectivity that is typically measured in pump-probe experiments is related to the nonequilibrium optical conductivity. We show how to express this quantity in terms of real-time Green's functions using dynamical mean-field theory. As an application we study the electrical response of the Falicov-Kimball model during the ultrafast buildup of the gapped phase at large interaction.
This thesis reports on theoretical investigations of the ultrafast nonequilibrium dynamics in superconductors. In particular, two nonequilibrium scenarios are modeled by combining several analytical and numerical methods: transient superconducting phase transition and collective excitations of a superconducting condensate. In the first part of the thesis the possibility to induce singlet superconducting correlations far from equilibrium is explored by applying time-dependent Lanczos algorithm to the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model. Here, the system is driven into a nonequilibrium state by (i) interaction quench and (ii) quench by pulse. In both cases the buildup of the superconducting correlations is studied in view of several correlation functions. Moreover, a transient Meissner effect, which reflects fingerprints of the induced superconductivity, is observed in calculations of the important for experiments time-dependent optical conductivity. In addition, the differences between nonequilibrium dynamics of the extended Hubbard model initiated by interaction quench and by pulse quench are discussed in detail. The second part is devoted to the excitation of collective modes in a superconductor out of equilibrium. First of all, focus is given to the properties of collective modes close to equilibrium conditions, where a linearized response can be expected. Within the framework of the (Nambu-) matrix kinetic theory in the clean limit a comprehensive gauge-invariant description of the collective modes associated with phase fluctuations of the order parameter is analytically formulated for the generalized case of two- band superconducting systems. Particular emphasis is on the application to the recently discovered noncentrosymmetric superconductors. A detailed analysis of the collective modes includes specification of the gauge mode (common to all superconductors) and the Leggett mode (collective fluctuations of the interband phase difference), and investigation of their subtle interplay in view of validity of the charge conservation law and the participation in the Anderson-Higgs mechanism. Further, the nonequilibrium excitation of the superconducting gaps for the case of two-band superconductors with singlet pairing correlations is investigated in a view of optical pump-probe experiments. For this purpose a semi-numerical method based on the density- matrix theory is formulated. In this case additional amplitude (Higgs) modes were identified, which allow to directly detect the properties of the superconducting condensates as a function of time. Moreover, a new interplay between the phase (Leggett) and amplitude (Higgs) modes is studied in detail. In particular it was found that the nonadiabatic excitation process leads to strong coupling between both modes. Finally, based on calculations of the time-dependent optical conductivity the prediction is made that the coupled Higgs and Leggett modes can be clearly visible in the pump-probe absorption spectra.
We use density-matrix theory to calculate the ultrafast dynamics of unconventional superconductors from a microscopic viewpoint. We calculate the time evolution of the optical conductivity as well as pump-probe spectra for a ddd-wave order parameter. Three regimes can be distinguished in the spectra. The Drude response at low photon energies is the only one of those which has been experimentally measured so far. At higher energies, we predict two more regimes: the pair-breaking peak, which is reduced as Cooper pairs are broken up by the exciting pulse, and a suppression above the pair-breaking peak due to nonequilibrium quasiparticles. Furthermore, we consider the influence of the electron-phonon coupling and derive rate equations that have been widely used so far.
We use nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory in combination with a recently developed Quantum Monte Carlo impurity solver to study the real-time dynamics of a Hubbard model which is driven out of equilibrium by a sudden increase in the on-site repulsion UUU. We discuss the implementation of the self-consistency procedure and some important technical improvements of the QMC method. The exact numerical solution is compared to iterated perturbation theory, which is found to produce accurate results only for weak interaction or short times. Furthermore, we calculate the spectral functions and the optical conductivity from a Fourier transform on the finite Keldysh contour, for which the numerically accessible time scales allow to resolve the formation of Hubbard bands and a gap in the strongly interacting regime. The spectral function, and all one-particle quantities that can be calculated from it, thermalize rapidly at the transition between qualitatively different weak- and strong-coupling relaxation regimes.