RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Light-Induced Superconductivity in a Stripe-Ordered Cuprate JF Science JO Science FD American Association for the Advancement of Science SP 189 OP 191 DO 10.1126/science.1197294 VO 331 IS 6014 A1 Fausti, D. A1 Tobey, R. I. A1 Dean, N. A1 Kaiser, S. A1 Dienst, A. A1 Hoffmann, M. C. A1 Pyon, S. A1 Takayama, T. A1 Takagi, H. A1 Cavalleri, A. YR 2011 UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/331/6014/189.abstract AB One of the most intriguing features of some high-temperature cuprate superconductors is the interplay between one-dimensional “striped” spin order and charge order, and superconductivity. We used mid-infrared femtosecond pulses to transform one such stripe-ordered compound, nonsuperconducting La1.675Eu0.2Sr0.125CuO4, into a transient three-dimensional superconductor. The emergence of coherent interlayer transport was evidenced by the prompt appearance of a Josephson plasma resonance in the c-axis optical properties. An upper limit for the time scale needed to form the superconducting phase is estimated to be 1 to 2 picoseconds, which is significantly faster than expected. This places stringent new constraints on our understanding of stripe order and its relation to superconductivity.