Effect of the pseudogap on the infrared response in cuprate superconductors

One of the most essential aspects of cuprate superconductors is a large pseudogap coexisting with a superconducting gap, then some anomalous properties can be understood in terms of the formation of the pseudogap. Within the kinetic energy-driven superconducting mechanism, the effect of the pseudogap on the infrared response of cuprate superconductors in the superconducting state is studied. By considering the interplay between the superconducting gap and pseudogap, the electron current–current correlation function is evaluated based on the linear response approach and it then is employed to calculate finite-frequency conductivity. It is shown that in the underdoped and optimally doped regimes, the transfer of the part of the low-energy spectral weight of the conductivity spectrum to the higher energy region to form a midinfrared band is intrinsically associated with the presence of the pseudogap.