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A Superconducting Dual‐Channel Photonic Switch
Author(s) -
Srivastava Yogesh Kumar,
Manjappa Manukumara,
Cong Longqing,
Krishnamoorthy Harish N. S.,
Savinov Vassili,
Pitchappa Prakash,
Singh Ranjan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201801257
Subject(s) - materials science , ultrashort pulse , superconductivity , femtosecond , optoelectronics , photonics , optical switch , photoexcitation , cuprate , yttrium barium copper oxide , cooper pair , nanotechnology , high temperature superconductivity , condensed matter physics , laser , physics , doping , optics , excitation , quantum mechanics
The mechanism of Cooper pair formation and its underlying physics has long occupied the investigation into high temperature (high‐ T c ) cuprate superconductors. One of the ways to unravel this is to observe the ultrafast response present in the charge carrier dynamics of a photoexcited specimen. This results in an interesting approach to exploit the dissipation‐less dynamic features of superconductors to be utilized for designing high‐performance active subwavelength photonic devices with extremely low‐loss operation. Here, dual‐channel, ultrafast, all‐optical switching and modulation between the resistive and the superconducting quantum mechanical phase is experimentally demonstrated. The ultrafast phase switching is demonstrated via modulation of sharp Fano resonance of a high‐ T c yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconducting metamaterial device. Upon photoexcitation by femtosecond light pulses, the ultrasensitive cuprate superconductor undergoes dual dissociation–relaxation dynamics, with restoration of superconductivity within a cycle, and thereby establishes the existence of dual switching windows within a timescale of 80 ps. Pathways are explored to engineer the secondary dissociation channel which provides unprecedented control over the switching speed. Most importantly, the results envision new ways to accomplish low‐loss, ultrafast, and ultrasensitive dual‐channel switching applications that are inaccessible through conventional metallic and dielectric based metamaterials.