Dynamical onset of light-induced unconventional superconductivity—a Yukawa-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev study

Abstract

Using light irradiation to manipulate quantum materials has opened up avenues for transiently inducing superconductivity in some systems. Despite experimental confirmation across various compounds, the mechanism behind the dynamic formation of Cooper pairs remains highly debated, in part due to the strong electronic correlations at play, which pose challenges for theoretical investigations relying on perturbative or phenomenological approaches. Here, we investigate the dynamical onset of superconductivity in the strongly correlated, yet exactly solvable Yukawa-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. Analyzing dynamical protocols motivated by theoretical mechanisms proposed for light-induced superconductivity, that is light-induced cooling and the dressing of Hamiltonian parameters, we investigate the exact relaxation resulting out of undercooling and interaction quenches. While, in contrast to BCS theory, it is not possible for superconductivity to emerge following interaction quenches across the superconducting phase transition, we find that the dynamical relaxation of undercooled states universally leads to superconductivity. Despite the strong correlations, the emerging order parameter dynamics are well captured by a coarse grained Ginzburg-Landau theory. Our study provides an integral stepping stone towards exploring light-induced superconductivity in strongly correlated systems in a theoretically controlled way.