BCS superconductors: The out-of-equilibrium response to a laser pulse

The dynamics of a 2D d-wave BCS superconductor driven out-of-equilibrium by a perpendicularly-impinging polarized laser pulse is analyzed on varying the laser pulse characteristics. The observed effects include: oscillations both in the amplitude and in the phase of the superconducting order parameter, suppression of the superconductivity, but also its enhancement with a strong dependence on all varying parameters and, in particular, on the polarization in plane of the applied vector potential and on the value of its frequency. This study opens up the possibility to distinguish very clearly the behavior of the nodal and anti-nodal non-thermal excitations and to tackle some of the puzzling results of the current experimental scenario in the field.