Optical properties of underdoped high $T_c$ superconductors from a phenomenological model

We calculate the optical conductivity predicted by a phenomenological model for the pseudogap state given by Yang, Rice and Zhang [1]. In particular, we present results for both pseudogap and superconducting states as a function of doping. In addition to the conductivity, we examine the optical self-energy (i.e. the optical scattering rate and mass renormalization) and discuss our results in light of experiment. \newline [1] K.Y. Yang, T.M. Rice and F.C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 73, 17541 (2006).