Optical absorption activated by an ultrashort half-cycle pulse in metallic and superconducting states of the Hubbard model

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ultrashort half-cycle laser pulses can transiently activate optical absorption in superconducting and metallic states of the Hubbard model, revealing state-specific excitation mechanisms using advanced simulation methods.

Contribution

It demonstrates the distinct transient absorption phenomena in superconducting and metallic Hubbard models induced by ultrashort pulses, highlighting state-sensitive optical responses.

Findings

Superconducting state shows activation at energies of amplitude modes.

Metallic state exhibits broad absorption enhancements in spin excitation energies.

Ultrashort pulses induce state-specific transient optical responses.

Abstract

The development of high-intensity ultrashort laser pulses unlocks the potential of pump-probe spectroscopy in sub-femtosecond timescale. Notably, subcycle pump pulses can generate electronic states unreachable by conventional multicycle pulses, leading to a phenomenon that we refer to as subcycle-pulse engineering. In this study, we employ the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group method to unveil the transient absorption spectra of superconducting and metallic states in nearly half-filled one-dimensional and two-dimensional Hubbard models excited by an ultrashort half-cycle pulse, which can induce a current with inversion-symmetry breaking. In a superconducting state realized in attractive on-site interactions, we find the transient activation of absorptions at energies corresponding to the amplitude modes of superconducting and charge-density-wave states. On the other hand, in a metallic state realized in the two-dimensional model with repulsive on-site interactions, we obtain another type of absorption enhancements, which are distributed broadly in spin excitation energies. These findings indicate that superconducting and metallic states are sensitive to an ultrashort half-cycle pulse, leading to the transient activations of optical absorptions with their respective mechanisms.