Dynamics of the Schmid-Higgs Mode in $d$-wave superconductors

Abstract

We study the dynamics of the longitudinal collective mode in an unconventional superconductor. For concreteness, we assume that the superconductor is described by a $d$-wave order parameter with $d_{x^2-y^2}$ symmetry. After the superconductor has been suddenly subjected to a perturbation at time $t=0$, the order parameter exhibits a peculiar oscillatory behavior, with the amplitude of the oscillations slowly decaying with time in a power-law fashion. Assuming that the initial perturbation is weak, we use a formalism based on quasi-classical approach to superconductivity to determine both the frequency of the oscillations as well as how fast these oscillations decay with time by evaluating the time dependence of the pairing susceptibility. We find that the frequency of the oscillations is given by twice the value of the pairing amplitude in the anti-nodal direction and its amplitude decays as $1/t^2$. The results are also verified by a direct calculation of the order parameter dynamics by numerically solving the equations of motion for the Anderson pseudospins.