Investigation of Precursor Superconducting State in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ through In-plane Optical Spectroscopy
A precursor of superconductivity has been searched in the in-plane optical spectra of underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_y$, in which the previous $c$-axis optical spectra showed the presence of superconducting carriers at a temperature far above $T_c$ [Uykur $et al$., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 127003 (2014)][Dubroka $et al$., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 047006 (2011)]. By carefully subtracting the normal component from the imaginary part of conductivity $σ_2$($ω$), we found a clear in-plane response of superconducting condensate at the temperature consistent with the $c$-axis optical data. This confirms that the precursory superconductivity developing with reducing a doping level is an intrinsic phenomenon in the cuprates.
cond-mat.supr-con↗