Light-induced coherent interlayer transport in stripe-ordered ${\rm La}_{1.6-x}{\rm Nd}_{0.4}{\rm Sr}_{x}{\rm CuO}_{4}$

Abstract

We have investigated the photoexcited transient responses of stripe-ordered phase in a cuprate superconductor, ${\rm La}_{1.6-x}{\rm Nd}_{0.4}{\rm Sr}_{x}{\rm CuO}_{4}~(x = 0.12)$ using optical-pump terahertz (THz)-probe spectroscopy. Upon the near-infrared photoexcitation with the electric field polarized along the $c$-axis, a clear plasma edge appears in the THz reflection spectrum along the $c$-axis with its position nearly coinciding with the Josephson plasma resonance of similarly doped ${\rm La}_{2-x}{\rm Sr}_{x}{\rm CuO}_{4}~(x = 0.125)$ in the low-temperature superconducting phase. The appearance of light-induced plasma edge sustains up to the onset temperature of the charge-stripe order, indicating the inherent interplay between the light-induced phase and the charge-stripe order. The optical conductivity spectrum of the light-induced state is mostly reproduced by the Drude model with a scattering rate as small as a few meV, and its imaginary part does not exhibit $1/{\omega}$-divergence behavior in any temporal region after the photoexcitation. We discuss the possible origin of the observed coherent interlayer transport behavior as manifested by the narrow Drude response in the THz reflectivity along the $c$-axis.