Time-resolved carrier dynamics in Hg-based high-temperature Superconducting photodetectors

We present fabrication and optical time-resolved photoresponse characterization of Hg-based high-temperature superconducting (HTS) thin films. The films were prepared from RF-magnetron-sputtered precursor films by an ex-situ mercuration process. Femtosecond, time-resolved, optical pump-probe spectroscopy measurements gave insight into the details of the Cooper-pair breaking and formation processes in our Hg-based films at temperatures far below the material's critical temperature. We observed that the Cooper-pair dynamics is not limited by the phonon bottleneck, which makes this HTS compound the material-of-choice for ultrafast optoelectronics applications.