  Coherent time-domain spectroscopy is used to measure the screening and
dissipation of high-frequency electromagnetic fields in a set of underdoped
Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+d thin films. The measurements provide direct evidence for a
phase-fluctuation driven transition from the superconductor to normal state,
with dynamics described well by the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless theory of
vortex-pair unbinding.

Superconductivity