Nonthermal optical response of Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films

Separate fast and slow components were observed in the electrical response to optical excitation of an Y-Ba-Cu-O thin film prepared by laser deposition. The temperature dependence of these two components indicated different thermal and nonthermal behavior. The speed of the nonthermal component is limited by the 6 ns laser pulse duration used in the excitation. It was also demonstrated that thin films that were optically semitransparent were crucial in the observation of the fast nonthermal response.