Related papers: Light-induced hexatic state in a layered quantum m…
Controlling quantum materials with ultrafast light pulses enables access to transient and metastable states that are inaccessible under equilibrium conditions. Yet their local dynamics remain poorly understood due to the challenge of…
Charge density waves (CDWs), electronic crystals that form within a host solid, have long been speculated to melt into a spatially textured electronic liquid. Though they have not been previously detected, liquid CDWs may nonetheless be…
Light-induced quantum phases offer the potential for simple and powerful tuning of material properties. For example, simply illuminating 2D materials in the integer quantum Hall regime with polarized light is predicted to drive quantum…
Optically driven quantum materials exhibit a variety of non-equilibrium functional phenomena [1-11], which are potentially associated with unique transport properties. However, these transient electrical responses have remained largely…
We combine ultrafast electron diffraction and time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy measurements to unravel the connection between structure and electronic transport properties during the photoinduced insulator-metal transitions in vanadium…
Ultrafast light-matter interaction has emerged as a new mechanism to exert control over the macroscopic properties of quantum materials toward novel functionality. To date, technological applications of these non-thermal phases are limited…
Using light to control transient phases in quantum materials is an emerging route to engineer new properties and functionality, with both thermal and non-thermal phases observed out of equilibrium. Transient phases are expected to be…
Low-dimensional electron systems, as realized naturally in graphene or created artificially at the interfaces of heterostructures, exhibit a variety of fascinating quantum phenomena with great prospects for future applications. Once…
Two-dimensional (2D) lateral heterojunctions of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have become a reality in recent years. Semiconducting TMDC layers in their common H -structure have a nonzero in-plane electric polarization, which is…
Manipulating materials properties far from equilibrium recently garnered significant attention, with experimental emphasis on transient melting, enhancement, or induction of electronic order. A more tantalizing aspect of the matter-light…
Optical control of crystal structures is a promising route to change physical properties including topological nature of a targeting material. Time-resolved X-ray diffraction measurements using the X-ray free-electron laser are performed to…
We review recent experimental progresses on layered topological materials, mainly focusing on transitional metal dichalcogenides with various lattice types including 1T, Td and 1T' structural phases. Their electronic quantum states are…
In addition to their strong nonlinear optical response, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) possess a high refractive index in the visible and infrared regime. Therefore, by patterning those TMDCs into dielectric nanoresonators, one…
Compelling evidence suggests distinct correlated electron behavior may exist only in clean 2D materials such as 1T-TaS2. Unfortunately, experiment and theory suggest that extrinsic disorder in free standing 2D layers disrupts…
Hybrid quantum dot (QD) / transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures are attractive components of next generation optoelectronic devices, which take advantage of the spectral tunability of QDs and the charge and exciton…
Metastable phases present a promising route to expand the functionality of complex materials. Of particular interest are light-induced metastable phases that are inaccessible under equilibrium conditions, as they often host new, emergent…
Charge density waves (CDW) and their concomitant periodic lattice distortions (PLD) govern the electronic properties in many layered transition-metal dichalcogenides. In particular, 1T-TaS2 undergoes a metal-to-insulator phase transition as…
In low-dimensional systems with strong electronic correlations, the application of an ultrashort laser pulse often yields novel phases that are otherwise inaccessible. The central challenge in understanding such phenomena is to determine…
Reversible exchange of photons between a material and an optical cavity can lead to the formation of hybrid light--matter states where material properties such as the work function\cite{Hutchison_AM2013a}, chemical…
Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as MoSe$_2$ and WSe$_2$, exhibit unique optical and electronic properties. Vertical stacking of layers of one or more TMDs, to create heterostructures, has expanded the fields of…