Raman scattering of light off a superconductor

Abstract

Raman scattering off a superconducting surface is formulated using Kubo's nonlinear response theory in a form suitable for systematic diagrammatic expansion. The effects of the sample surface are correctly taken into account. It is shown that in the presence of vacuum polarization processes, the contribution to the scattering efficiency from the density-density correlation function considered in the literature, is reduced. The relevant four-vertex parts, describing inelastic scattering of light by electronic excitations via intermediate interband states in a superconductor, are calculated. Frequency and temperature dependence of the relative scattering efficiency for the large momentum transfer (Pippard limit), and constant transition matrix elements, are obtained. The estimated magnitude of the total scattering efficiency is of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}$.