Infrared threshold absorption in strongly correlated two-band superconductors

Two-band models (one wide band and one narrow band close to the Fermi energy) and local-pair models (periodic Anderson model) of high-Tc superconductors give rise to the same equilibrium thermodynamics despite the different physical pictures underlying the models. The low-energy excitations in these models are, however, not of the same character, which leads to a qualitative difference in their non-equilibrium properties. In particular, this is true for the interband optical absorption at threshold. Using the Golden rule for absorption and a mean-field treatment of the superconducting state, we calculate the threshold absorption at zero temperature for three different cases: a two-band model without additional correlation besides the interband interaction between Cooper pairs; a two-band model with attractive correlation (negative-U) between electrons on the same site in the narrow band; and a local-pair model with the same correlation as in the previous model, but with a pair interaction due to the hybridization (in second order) of the wide band and the local states. In the two latter models (which are closely related), we assume that the local-pair correlation energy is much higher than Tc. In the uncorrelated case the absorption has a square-root singularity at threshold, which is due to the diverging density of states of the one-particle excitations. In the negative-U correlated cases no single-particle transitions are possible at threshold, and only direct two-photon two-particle processes are possible. Further, in the local-pair model the hybridization can act together with a photon, giving an additional one-photon two-electron threshold in the absorption. (orig.)