Photon echo from Maki-Thompson interference in a fluctuating s-wave superconductor

arXiv:2610.16462 · cond-mat.supr-con, cond-mat.str-el · Submitted 2026-10-12 · Read on arXiv

cond-mat.supr-con, cond-mat.str-el

Submitted: 2026-10-12

Updated: 2026-10-12

Comments: 10 pages, 5 figures

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: We study theoretically the nonlinear optical response of a fluctuating s-wave superconductor driven by two successive terahertz pulses.

Abstract

We study theoretically the nonlinear optical response of a fluctuating s-wave superconductor driven by two successive terahertz pulses. We show that the response exhibits a photon echo signal that arises from the quantum interference between the time-reversed electron and hole trajectories in the Maki-Thompson process. By contrast, the transport of the fluctuating Cooper pairs responsible for the Aslamazov-Larkin conductivity does not generate an echo. The photon echo signal can be readily measured using terahertz two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy, highlighting its potential to distinguish different fluctuation conductivity mechanisms.

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