Speaker
Andreas Dienst
(University of Oxford)
Description
In cuprate superconductors, tunneling between copper-oxide planes constitutes three-dimensional coherent transport. When a phase gradient of the condensate wavefunction is introduced perpendicular to the planes, the interlayer tunneling amplitude is reduced. As such, c-axis superconductivity becomes controllable by an external electric field resulting in a time-dependent phase modulation. Here, we use a single-cycle terahertz electric field to gate of superconducting transport bi-directionally in La1.84Sr0.16CuO4. Oscillations between superconducting and resistive states are induced, at a frequency controlled by the electric field strength. In-plane superconductivity remains unperturbed, giving rise to an exotic state in which the dimensionality of superconducting transport is time-dependent. Ultrafast gating of interlayer coupling across individual Copper-oxide planes is of interest for device applications in high-speed nanoelectronics. It also represents a novel example of nonlinear terahertz physics, applicable to nanoplasmonics and active metamaterials.
Author
Andreas Dienst
(University of Oxford)
Co-authors
Andrea Cavalleri
(University of Hamburg - CFEL - University of Oxford)
Daniele Fausti
(University of Hamburg - CFEL)
Hidenori Takagi
(University of Tokyo - RIKEN)
Jesse Petersen
(University of Oxford)
Matthias Hoffmann
(University of Hamburg - CFEL)
S Pyon
(University of Tokyo)
Tomohiro Takayama
(University of Tokyo)
