Frequency dispersion of nonlinear response of thin superconducting films in Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless state

Abstract

The effects of microwave radiation on the transport properties of atomically thin $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ films were studied in the 0.1-13 GHz frequency range. Resistance changes induced by microwaves were investigated at different temperatures near the superconducting transition. The nonlinear response decreases by several orders of magnitude within a few GHz of a cutoff frequency $\nu_{cut} \approx$ 2 GHz. Numerical simulations that assume an ac response to follow the dc V-I characteristics of the films reproduce well the low frequency behavior, but fail above $\nu_{cut}$. The results indicate that two-dimensional superconductivity is resilient against high-frequency microwave radiation, because vortex-antivortex dissociation is dramatically suppressed in two-dimensional superconducting condensates oscillating at high frequencies.