The total spectral weight S of the emergent low-energy quasipaticles in high-temperature superconductors is explored by x-ray absorption spectroscopy. In order to examine the applicability of the Hubbard model, regimes that cover from zero doping to overdoping are investigated. In contrast to mean field theory, we found that S deviates from linear dependence on the doping level p. The slope of S versus p changes continuously throughout the whole doping range with no sign of saturation up to p = 0.23. Therefore, the picture of Zhang-Rice singlet remains intact within the most prominent doping regimes of HTSC's.

By the spatial-temporal-resolved femtosecond spectroscopy on well-textured ͑110͒and ͑100͒-YBCO thin films, two distinctly temperature-dependent characteristics of quasiparticle relaxation in the nodal and antinodal directions are clearly identified. One temperature dependence associated with a high-energy gap has been observed along the ab diagonal for the whole hole-doping region and along the b axis except near optimal doping, while the other temperature dependence related to the opening of the superconducting gap appears along b axis regardless of the hole concentration. This spatial dichotomy between the nodal and antinodal quasiparticle dynamics and the evolution of gap symmetry with hole doping are discussed for enlightenment on the nature of the phase diagram of hole-doped cuprates. These strongly suggest that the two characteristics may have different physical origins and compete with each other.

We report on the formation of organized sub-micron YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7) (YBCO) dots induced by irradiating femtosecond laser pulses on YBCO films prepared by pulse laser deposition with fluence in the range of 0.21 approximately 0.53 J/cm(2). The morphology of the YBCO film surface depends strongly on the laser fluences irradiated. At lower laser fluence (approximately 0.21 J/cm(2)) the morphology was pattern of periodic ripples with sub-micrometer spacing. Slightly increasing the laser fluence to 0.26 J/cm(2) changes the pattern into organized sub-micron dots with diameters ranging from 100 nm to 800 nm and height of 150 nm. Further increase of the laser fluence to over 0.32 J/cm(2), however, appeared to result in massive melting and led to irregular morphology. The mechanism and the implications of the current findings will be discussed. Arrays of YBCO sub-micron dots with T(c) = 89.7 K were obtained.

Time-domain spectroscopy, which probes the dynamics of the electronic states near Fermi surface that are associated with superconductivity, has proven to be a powerful method for providing insights into the fundamental nature of both pseudogap and superconducting gap. This study shows that the unique T-x phase diagram with the time-evolving ultrafast dynamics of Y 1−x Pr x Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7−␦ can be used to identify clearly the Nernst, pseudogap, and superconducting regions. All of the orders appear together at a specific delay time, such as 1.2-3 ps, after pumping by an ultrashort pulse. These discoveries suggest that the Nernst effect, the pseudogap and even superconductivity may have the same physical origin.

To shed light on the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter in Na x CoO 2 · yH 2 O, the Mn doping effects are studied. X-ray absorption spectroscopy verifies that the doped Mn impurities occupy the Co sites and are with a valance close to +4. Impurity scattering by Mn is in the unitary limit that, however, does not lead to strong T c suppression. This absence of the strong impurity effects on T c is inconsistent with the simple picture of a sign-changing order parameter. Coexistence of the s-wave superconducting order parameter and the nodal one is proposed to reconcile all the existing experiments and has been implied by the specific heat experiments.