Optical Pumping of Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer Superconductors

TL;DR

This paper explores how optical pulses can induce non-thermal electronic distributions in BCS superconductors, revealing potential new methods for optical control of superconducting states.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework using time-dependent mean-field theory and Anderson pseudospins to analyze optical pulse effects on superconductors, a novel approach in this context.

Findings

Single and few pulses create complex electron distributions.

Analytical explanations based on linearized equations.

Potential for experimental optical control of superconductivity.

Abstract

Motivated by the generation by optical pulses of non-thermal distributions of nuclear spins in quantum dots we investigate the effect of optical pulses applied to Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductors. Using time-dependent mean-field theory formulated with Anderson pseudospins, we study the electronic configurations and the energy deposited in the system by optical pulses. The pulses are included by Peierls substitution and we study short rectangular pulses as well as idealized $\delta$ pulses. Already a few and even a single pulse generates highly non-trivial distributions of electron expectation values which we simulate numerically and explain analytically based on the linearization of the equations of motion. These results suggest so far unexplored experimental possibilities for the optical control of superconducting states.