Residual absorption at zero temperature in d-wave superconductors

Abstract

In a d-wave superconductor with elastic impurity scattering, not all the available optical spectral weight goes into the condensate at zero temperature, and this leads to residual absorption. We find that for a range of impurity parameters in the intermediate coupling regime between Born (weak) and unitary (strong) limit, significant oscillator strength remains which exhibits a cusp like behavior of the real part of the optical conductivity with upward curvature as a function of frequency, as well as a quasilinear temperature dependence of the superfluid density. The calculations offer an explanation of recent data on ortho-II YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.5}$ which has been considered anomalous.