Related papers: Photoinduced ultrafast transition of the local cor…
Manipulating crystal structure and the corresponding electronic properties in quantum materials provides opportunities for the exploration of exotic physics and practical applications. Here, by ultrafast electron diffraction, structure…
Directional photocurrents in two-dimensional materials arise from broken crystal symmetry, offering pathways to high-speed, bias-free photodetection beyond conventional devices. Tungsten ditelluride (WTe$_2$), a type-II Weyl semimetal,…
The study of photoexcited strongly correlated materials is attracting growing interest since their rich phase diagram often translates into an equally rich out-of-equilibrium behavior, including non-thermal phases and photoinduced phase…
Resonant optical excitation of apical oxygen vibrational modes in the normal state of underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x induces a transient state with optical properties similar to those of the equilibrium superconducting state. Amongst these, a…
The IrTe2 transition metal dichalcogenide undergoes a series of structural and electronic phase transitions when doped with Pt. The nature of each phase and the mechanism of the phase transitions have attracted much attention. In this…
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…
Metals exhibit nonequilibrium electron and lattice subsystems at transient times following femtosecond laser excitation. In the past four decades, various optical spectroscopy and time-resolved diffraction methods have been used to study…
We examine the ultrafast optical response of the crystalline and amorphous phases of the phase change material Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ below the phase transformation threshold. Simultaneous measurement of the transmissivity and reflectivity of…
We present a new descriptor, i.e., local lattice distortion, to predict structural phase transformation in inorganic compounds containing lanthanides and transition metals. The descriptor utilizes local lattice and angular distortions…
Chalcogenide glasses are exceptional materials that show a wide contrast in optical properties upon phase change and are highly researched for reconfigurable electronic and nanophotonic devices. Here, we report the first proof-of-concept…
The electronic and structural properties of a material are strongly determined by its symmetry. Changing the symmetry via a photoinduced phase transition offers new ways to manipulate material properties on ultrafast timescales. However, in…
The transition metal dichalcogenide IrTe2 displays a remarkable series of first-order phase transitions below room temperature, involving lattice displacements as large as 20 percents of the initial bond length. This is nowadays understood…
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…
We use ultrafast electron crystallography to study structural changes induced in graphite by a femtosecond laser pulse. At moderate fluences of ~< 21mJ/cm^2, lattice vibrations are observed to thermalize on a time scale of ~8ps. At higher…
Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) moir\'e heterostructures provide an ideal platform to explore the extended Hubbard model1 where long-range Coulomb interactions play a critical role in determining strongly correlated electron states.…
The ultrafast time-dependence of the energy absorption of covalent solids upon excitation with femtosecond laser pulses is theoretically analyzed. We use a microscopic theory to describe laser induced structural changes and their influence…
We present a time-resolved angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy study of IrTe$_2$, which undergoes two first-order structural and charge-ordered phase transitions on cooling below 270 K and below 180 K. The possibility of inducing a…
Chalcogenide material-based integrated photonic devices have garnered widespread attention due to their unique wideband transparency. Despite their recognized CMOS compatibility, the fabrication of these devices relies predominantly on…
Formation of electronic nematicity is a common thread of unconventional superconductors. In iron-based materials, the long-range nematic order is revealed by the orthorhombic lattice distortion, which importance is a highly controversial…
Disentangling the primary order parameter from secondary order parameters in phase transitions is critical to the interpretation of the transition mechanisms in strongly correlated systems and quantum materials. Here we present a study of…