Related papers: Ultrafast changes in lattice symmetry probed by co…
In solids, the response of the lattice to photo-excitation is often described by the inertial evolution on an impulsively modified potential energy surface which leads to coherent motion. However, it remains unknown if vibrational coherence…
Photo-induced phase transitions have been intensively studied owing to the ability to control a material of interest in the ultrafast manner, which can induce exotic phases unable to be attained at equilibrium. However, the key mechanisms…
Anharmonic lattice vibrations play a key role in many physical phenomena. They govern the heat conductivity of solids, strongly affect the phonon spectra, play a prominent role in soft mode phase transitions, allow ultrafast engineering of…
We present a constrained density functional perturbation theory scheme for the calculation of structural and harmonic vibrational properties of insulators in the presence of an excited and thermalized electron-hole plasma. The method is…
Excursions far from their equilibrium structures can bring crystalline solids through collective transformations including transitions into new phases that may be transient or long-lived. Direct spectroscopic observation of…
Ultrafast light pulses can modify the electronic properties of quantum materials by perturbing the underlying, intertwined degrees of freedom. In particular, iron-based superconductors exhibit a strong coupling among electronic nematic…
Time- and angle-resolved extreme ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy is used to study the electronic structure dynamics in BaFe$_2$As$_2$ around the high-symmetry points $\Gamma$ and $M$. A global oscillation of the Fermi level at the…
We investigate the excitation of phonons in photoexcited antimony and demonstrate that the entire electron-lattice interactions, in particular coherent and incoherent electron-phonon coupling, can be probed simultaneously. Using femtosecond…
In the prevalent picture of ultrafast structural phase transitions, the atomic motion occurs in a slowly varying potential energy surface determined adiabatically by the fast electrons. However, this ignores non-conservative forces caused…
Selective optical excitation of a substrate lattice can drive phase changes across hetero-interfaces. This phenomenon is a non-equilibrium analogue of static strain control in heterostructures and may lead to new applications in optically…
Dynamical phase separation during a solid-solid phase transition poses a challenge for understanding the fundamental processes in correlated materials. Critical information underlying a phase transition, such as localized phase competition,…
The femtosecond optical pump-probe technique was used to study dynamics of photoexcited electrons and coherent optical phonons in transition metals Zn and Cd as a function of temperature and excitation level. The optical response in time…
The ultrafast photoinduced insulator-metal transition in VO2 is studied at different temperatures and excitation fluences using multi-THz probe pulses. The spectrally resolved mid-infrared response allows us to trace separately the dynamics…
We report the lattice dynamics of transition metal thin films by using the ultrafast electron diffraction. We observe a suppression of the diffraction intensity in a few picosecond after the photoexcitation, which is directly interpreted as…
Coherent phonon control using ultrashort pulse trains is the key to realizing structural phase transitions in solids by non-thermal pathways. By combining double-pulse excitation and time-resolved second harmonic generation techniques under…
Femtosecond optical pulses at mid-infrared frequencies have opened up the nonlinear control of lattice vibrations in solids. So far, all applications have relied on second order phonon nonlinearities, which are dominant at field strengths…
The nature of a phase transition is inherently connected to the changes in the crystalline symmtry, which is typically probed by elastic or inelastic scattering with neutrons, electrons or photons. When such a phase transition is stimulated…
We describe an ultrafast coherent control of the transient structural distortion arising from nonlinear phononics in ErFeO$_3$. Using density functional theory, we calculate the structural properties as input to an anharmonic phonon model…
Photo-induced insulator-metal transition in VO$_2$ and the related transient and multi-timescale structural dynamics upon photoexcitation are explained within a unified framework. Holes created by photoexcitation weaken the V-V bonds and…
Topological phase transitions occur when the electronic bands change their topological properties, typically featuring the closing of the bandgap. While the influence of topological phase transitions on electronic and optical properties has…