Spatial Symmetry of Superconducting Gap in YBa2Cu3O7-δObtained from Femtosecond Spectroscopy

Abstract

The polarized femtosecond spectroscopies obtained from well characterized (100) and (110) YBa2Cu3O7-δthin films are reported. This bulk-sensitive spectroscopy, combining with the well-textured samples, serves as an effective probe to quasiparticle relaxation dynamics in different crystalline orientations. The significant anisotropy in both the magnitude of the photoinduced transient reflectivity change and the characteristic relaxation time indicates that the nature of the relaxation channel is intrinsically different in various axes and planes. By the orientation-dependent analysis, d-wave symmetry of the bulk-superconducting gap in cuprate superconductors emerges naturally.

8 pages, 4 figures. To be published in Physical Review B, Rapid Communications