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Abstract:
The possible existence of phase-incoherent superconductivity in the normal state of cuprates is one of the grand unsolved problems of modern condensed matter physics. Optical spectroscopy shows that long-range superconducting correlations disappear at Tc, although other momentum-integrated probes provide evidence for residual coherence in the normal state. Here, we use nonlinear TeraHertz spectroscopy to excite and probe coherent charge fluctuations in YBa2Cu3O6+x at frequencies and wavevectors that lie outside the light cone accessed by linear optics. In the superconducting state, we show that three-wave mixing between one optically driven phonon and two Josephson Plasma Polaritons excites coherent c-axis supercurrents at 2.4 THz and at in-plane wavevectors qy > 1000 cm−1. As Tc is crossed, these finite momentum supercurrent oscillations evolve continuously into a seemingly identical charge fluctuation mode, which survives up to the pseudogap temperature T*. We argue that these results are best explained by the existence of short-range superconducting fluctuations throughout the pseudogap phase of YBa2Cu3O6+x.