We describe an ultrafast coherent control of the transient structural distortion arising from nonlinear phononics in ErFeO3. Using density functional theory, we calculate the structural properties as input to an anharmonic phonon model that describes the response of the system to a pulsed optical excitation. We find that the trilinear coupling of two orthogonal infrared-active phonons to a Raman-active phonon causes a transient distortion of the lattice. The direction of the distortion is determined by the polarization of the exciting light, suggesting a route to nonlinear phononic lattice control and switching. Since the occurrence of the coupling is determined by the symmetry of the system we propose that it is a universal feature of orthorhombic and tetragonal perovskites.
@article{arxiv.1607.01653,
title = {Ultrafast Structure Switching through Nonlinear Phononics},
author = {Dominik Maximilian Juraschek and Michael Fechner and Nicola Ann Spaldin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.01653},
year = {2017}
}