Linear and non-linear current response in disordered d-wave superconductors

TL;DR

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of linear and non-linear optical responses in disordered d-wave superconductors, revealing how gap symmetry influences optical properties and explaining recent experimental observations in cuprates.

Contribution

It offers the first detailed theoretical study of non-linear optical effects, specifically third-harmonic generation, in disordered d-wave superconductors, highlighting differences from s-wave cases.

Findings

Disordered d-wave superconductors retain spectral weight below Tc, similar to experiments.

Third-harmonic generation in d-wave superconductors does not peak at the gap frequency, unlike s-wave cases.

The response shows mild polarization dependence, aligning with recent experimental results.

Abstract

We present a detailed theoretical investigation of the linear and non-linear optical response in a model system for a disordered d-wave superconductor, showing that for both quantities the gap symmetry considerably changes the paradigm of the optical response based on the conventional s-wave case. For what concerns the linear response our findings agree with previous work showing that in strongly-disordered d-wave superconductors a large fraction of uncondensed spectral weight survives below Tc, making the optical absorption around the gap-frequency scale almost unchanged with respect to the normal state. Our numerical results are in excellent quantitative agreement with experiments in overdoped cuprates. In the non-linear regime we focus on the third-harmonic generation (THG), finding that, as already established for the s-wave case, in general a large THG is triggered by disorder-activated paramagnetic processes. However, in the d-wave case the BCS response is monotonously increasing in frequency, loosing any signature of THG enhancement when the THz pump frequency $\omega$ matches the gap maximum $\Delta$, a hallmark of previous experiments in conventional s-wave superconductors. Our findings, along with the mild polarization dependence of the response, provides an explanation for recent THG measurements in cuprates, setting the framework for the theoretical understanding of non-linear effects in unconventional cuprates.