Laser-induced topological superconductivity in cuprate thin films

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to induce topological superconductivity in cuprate thin films using laser light, leveraging Floquet theory and Rashba spin-orbit coupling to create a gapped, topologically non-trivial state without vortices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scheme to dynamically realize topological superconductivity in cuprates through laser-induced synthetic magnetic fields, analyzed via an effective Floquet model.

Findings

Laser light combined with Rashba coupling induces topological phases.

The system becomes gapped and topologically non-trivial characterized by Chern numbers.

The scheme avoids vortex creation, enabling dynamic topological superconductivity.

Abstract

We propose a possible way to realize topological superconductivity with application of laser light to superconducting cuprate thin films. Applying Floquet theory to a model of $d$-wave superconductors with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, we derive an effective model and discuss its topological nature. Interplay of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and the laser light effect induces the synthetic magnetic fields, thus making the system gapped. Then the system acquires the topologically non-trivial nature which is characterized by Chern numbers. The effective magnetic fields do not create the vortices in superconductors, and thus the proposed scheme provides a promising way to dynamically realize a topological superconductor in cuprates. We also discuss an experimental way to detect the signature.