Abstract-Terahertz field control of interlayer transport modes in cuprate superconductors

Frank Schlawin, Anastasia S. D. Dietrich, Martin Kiffner, Andrea Cavalleri, Dieter Jaksch

(Submitted on 24 Jul 2017)

https://128.84.21.199/abs/1707.07459

We theoretically show that terahertz pulses with controlled amplitude and frequency can be used to switch between stable transport modes in layered superconductors, modelled as stacks of Josephson junctions. We find pulse shapes that deterministically switch the transport mode between superconducting, resistive and solitonic states. We develop a simple model that explains the switching mechanism as a destablization of the centre of mass excitation of the Josephson phase, made possible by the highly non-linear nature of the light-matter coupling.