Probing quasiparticle dynamics in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+delta) with a driven Josephson vortex lattice

TL;DR

This study uses flux-flow transport of Josephson vortex lattices in layered high-temperature superconductors to probe quasiparticle conductivity components, revealing their temperature dependence and relaxation times.

Contribution

It introduces a method to extract quasiparticle conductivities and relaxation times from vortex lattice flux-flow measurements in high-temperature superconductors.

Findings

Flux-flow resistivity mainly determined by in-plane dissipation.

Theoretical fit of $ ho_{ff}(B)$ in dense lattice regime allows parameter extraction.

Temperature dependence of $\sigma_{ab}$ aligns with microwave data.

Abstract

We show that the flux-flow transport of the Josephson vortex lattice (JVL) in layered high-temperature superconductors provides a convenient probe for both components of quasiparticle conductivity, $\sigma_{c}$ and $\sigma_{ab}$. We found that the JVL flux-flow resistivity, $\rho_{ff}$, in a wide range of magnetic fields is mainly determined by the in-plane dissipation. In the dense lattice regime ($B>1$ T) $\rho_{ff}(B)$ dependence is well fitted by the theoretical formula for that limit. That allows us to independently extract from the experimental data the values of $\sigma_{c}$ and of the ratio $\sigma _{ab}/(\sigma_{c}\gamma ^{4})$. The extracted temperature dependence $\sigma _{ab}(T)$ is consistent with microwave data. The shape of the current-voltage characteristics is also sensitive to the frequency dependence of $\sigma_{ab}$ and that allows us to estimate the quasiparticle relaxation time and relate it to the impurity bandwidth using data obtained for the same crystal.