We report an experimental approach to produce spatially localized photoinduced superconducting (SC) state in a cuprate superconductor using optical vortices (OVs) with ultrafast pulses.
The measurements were carried out using coaxially aligned three-pulse time-resolved spectroscopy, in which an intense OV pulse was used for coherent quenching of SC and the resulting spatially modulated metastable states were analyzed by the pump-probe spectroscopy.
The transient response after quenching by the OV pulse shows a spatially localized SC that remains unquenched at the dark core of the OV for a few picoseconds.
Because the SC quenching is instantaneously driven by photoexcited quasiparticles, the OV beam profile can be transferred directly to the electron system.
By using the OV-induced SC, we demonstrate spatially resolved imaging of the SC response and show that the spatial resolution can be improved using the same principle as that of super-resolution microscopy for fluorescent molecules.
The demonstration of spatially controlled photoinduced SC is significant for establishing a new method for exploring novel photoinduced phenomena and applications in ultrafast optical devices.