Optical enhancement of superconductivity, highlighted in PRB

Recently, there has been much interest in enhancing superconductivity using optical techniques. We proposed a new method for enhancing superconductivity in cuprates via melting the collective fluctuations of the competing orders. Exploiting the fact that, in cuprates, superconductivity and charge density waves compete with each other, they derive the optical properties of the gapless collective fluctuations of the charge density wave. It is demonstrated that by using an intermediate surface plasmon polariton material, these collective modes can be excited optically. This leads to a more efficient melting of the charge density wave, whereby stronger enhancements of superconductivity can be achieved. The article is highlighted as Editor's Suggestion in PRB.