Light-driven Vortex Deconfinement and Non-Equilibrium BKT-like Transition in Superconductors

We present a theoretical study of a light-driven, non-equilibrium phase transition in superconductors, characterized by the deconfinement of vortex–antivortex pairs. Using time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau simulations, we demonstrate that optical fields and electric current can induce a topological transition analogous to the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) transition without thermal fluctuations The resulting phase diagram of vortex motion exhibits distinct confined, premelted, and deconfined vortex phases, similar as features of the quantum chromodynamics phase diagram. We analyze the real-time evolution of the superconducting order parameter, phase coherence, and vortex dynamics across the transition, coherence loss, and long-lived topological defects. Our results establish a new class of light-induced dynamical control of quantum matter far from equilibrium.