Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
Ultrafast dynamics of fluctuations in high-temperature superconductors far from equilibrium
L Perfetti1, B Sciolla2, G Biroli3
1Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, Ecole polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau cedex, France.
Abstract:
Despite extensive work on high-temperature superconductors, the critical behavior of an incipient condensate has so far been studied exclusively under equilibrium conditions. Here, we excite Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+δ) with a femtosecond laser pulse and monitor the subsequent nonequilibrium dynamics of the midinfrared conductivity. Our data allow us to discriminate temperature regimes where superconductivity is either coherent, fluctuating or vanishingly small. Above the transition temperature T(c), we make the striking observation that the relaxation to equilibrium exhibits power-law dynamics and scaling behavior, both for optimally and underdoped superconductors. Our findings can in part be modeled using time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, and they provide strong indication of universality in systems far from equilibrium.
Related Concept Videos
Types Of Superconductors
Superconductor
Theory of Metallic Conduction
In this theory, Newton's second law of motion is used to determine the acceleration of an electron in the presence of an applied electric field. Then, its velocity is expressed via this acceleration.
An electron moves through the crystal, containing positive ions,...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Atomic Spectroscopy: Effects of Temperature
At thermal equilibrium, the relative populations of excited and ground state atoms can be estimated using the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. For example, an increase in temperature...

