Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Pump probe spectroscopy is used to examine the picosecond response of a BSCCO thin film, and two YBCO crystals in the near infrared. The role of pump fluence and temperature have been closely examined in an effort to clarify the mechanism by which the quasiparticles rejoin the condensate. BSCCO results suggest that the recombination behavior is consistent with the d-wave density of states in that quasiparticles appear to relax to the nodes immediately before they rejoin the condensate. The first substantial investigation of polarized pump probe response in detwinned YBCO crystals is also reported. Dramatic doping dependent anisotropies along the a and b axes are observed in time and temperature resolved studies. Among many results, we highlight the discovery of an anomalous temperature and time dependence of a- axis response in optimally doped YBCO. We also report on the first observation of the photoinduced response in a magnetic field. We find the amplitude of the response, and in some cases, the dynamics considerably changed with the application of a 6T field. Finally, we speculate on two of the many theoretical directions stimulated by our results. We find that the two-fluid model suggests a mechanism to explain how changes at very low energies are visible to a high-energy probe. Also discussed are basic recombination processes which may play a role in the observed decay.