Light-Induced Melting of Competing Stripe Orders without Introducing Superconductivity in La${}_{2-\mathbf{x}}$Ba${}_{\mathbf{x}}$CuO${}_4$

Abstract

The ultrafast manipulation of quantum material has led to many novel and significant discoveries. Among them, the light-induced transient superconductivity in cuprates achieved by melting competing stripe orders represents a highly appealing accomplishment. However, recent investigations have shown that the notion of photoinduced superconductivity remains a topic of controversy, and its elucidation solely through c-axis time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy remains an arduous task. Here, we measure the in-plane and out-of-plane transient terahertz responses simultaneously in the stripe-ordered non-superconducting La${}_{2-x}$Ba${}_x$CuO${}_4$ after near-infrared excitations. We find that although a pump-induced reflectivity edge appears in the c-axis reflectance spectrum, the reflectivity along the CuO${}_2$ planes decreases simultaneously, indicating an enhancement in the scattering rate of quasiparticles. This in-plane transient response is clearly distinct from the features associated with superconducting condensation. Therefore, we conclude the out-of-plane transient responses cannot be explained by an equivalent of Josephson tunneling. Notably, those pump-induced terahertz responses remain consistent even when we vary the near-infrared optical pump wavelengths and hole concentrations. Our results provide a critical evidence that transient three-dimensional superconductivity cannot be induced by melting the competing stripe orders with pump pulses whose photon energy is much higher than the superconducting gap of cuprates.

11 pages, 6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Quantum many-body scars with unconventional superconducting pairing symmetries via multibody interactions
• Signatures of three-dimensional photo-induced superconductivity in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6.48}$
• Photodynamic melting of phase-reversed charge stripes and enhanced condensation