Quasiparticle relaxation in optically excited high-Q superconducting resonators

The quasiparticle relaxation time in superconducting films has been measured as a function of temperature using the response of the complex conductivity to photon flux. For tantalum and aluminum, chosen for their difference in electron-phonon coupling strength, we find that at high temperatures the relaxation time increases with decreasing temperature, as expected for electron-phonon interaction. At low temperatures we find in both superconducting materials a saturation of the relaxation time, suggesting the presence of a second relaxation channel not due to electron-phonon interaction.