Relaxation of Hot Quasiparticles in a d-Wave Superconductor

P. C. Howell, A. Rosch, and P. J. Hirschfeld
Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 037003 – Published 22 January 2004

Abstract

Motivated by recent pump-probe experiments we consider the processes by which “hot” quasiparticles produced near the antinodes of a d-wave superconductor can relax. We show that in a large region of momentum space processes which break Cooper pairs are forbidden by energy and momentum conservation. Equilibration then occurs by scattering with thermal quasiparticles: Umklapp scattering is exponentially suppressed at low temperatures, but small-angle scattering leads to power-law behavior. By solving the Boltzmann equation analytically we make detailed predictions for the temperature and intensity dependence of these processes, which we compare with experiment.

  • Figure
  • Received 9 July 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.037003

©2004 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

P. C. Howell1, A. Rosch1, and P. J. Hirschfeld2

  • 1Institut für Theorie der Kondensierten Materie, Universität Karlsruhe, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-8440, USA

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Issue

Vol. 92, Iss. 3 — 23 January 2004

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