title: Electron-phonon coupling in high-temperature cuprate superconductors determined from electron relaxation rates.
abstract: We determined electronic relaxation times via pump-probe optical spectroscopy using sub-15 fs pulses for the normal state of two different cuprate superconductors. We show that the primary relaxation process is the electron-phonon interaction and extract a measure of its strength, the second moment of the Eliashberg function λ[ω2] = 800 ± 200 meV2 for La(1.85)Sr(0.15)CuO4 and λ[ω2] = 400 ± 100 meV2 for YBa(2)Cu(3)O(6.5). These values suggest a possible fundamental role of the electron-phonon interaction in the superconducting pairing mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Complex Matter, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. christoph.gadermaier@ijs.si
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authors.lastname: Gadermaier
authors.forename: A S
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authors.lastname: Alexandrov
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authors.lastname: Kabanov
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authors.lastname: Kusar
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authors.lastname: Mertelj
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authors.lastname: Yao
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authors.lastname: Manzoni
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authors.lastname: Brida
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authors.lastname: Cerullo
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authors.lastname: Mihailovic