Holography and thermalization in optical pump-probe spectroscopy

Abstract

Using holography, we model experiments in which a 2+1D strange metal is pumped by a laser pulse into a highly excited state, after which the time evolution of the optical conductivity is probed. We consider a finite-density state with mildly broken translation invariance and excite it by oscillating electric field pulses. At zero density, the optical conductivity would assume its thermalized value immediately after the pumping has ended. At finite density, pulses with significant DC components give rise to slow exponential relaxation, governed by a vector quasinormal mode. In contrast, for high-frequency pulses the amplitude of the quasinormal mode is strongly suppressed, so that the optical conductivity assumes its thermalized value effectively instantaneously. This surprising prediction may provide a stimulus for taking up the challenge to realize these experiments in the laboratory. Such experiments would test a crucial open question faced by applied holography: Are its predictions artefacts of the large $N$ limit or do they enjoy sufficient UV independence to hold at least qualitatively in real-world systems?

7 pages, 4 figures; v2: broader context emphasized, references added

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Planckian dissipation, minimal viscosity and the transport in cuprate strange metals
• Hydrodynamic approach to two-dimensional electron systems
• Holographic Axion Model: a simple gravitational tool for quantum matter
• Holographic second laws of black hole thermodynamics
• Holographic subregion complexity under thermal quench in Einstein-Maxwell-Axions theory with momentum relaxation
• Out of equilibrium chiral magnetic effect and momentum relaxation in holography
• Probes of holographic thermalization in a simple model with momentum relaxation
• Out-of-equilibrium photon production and electric conductivity in a holographic Bjorken expanding plasma
• Holographic pump probe spectroscopy
• Relaxation regimes of the holographic electrons at charge neutrality after a local quench of chemical potential
• Sharp disentanglement in holographic charged local quench
• Detection of excited state absorption cross-section of porphyrin through cw and femto-second laser pump-probe technique