Phys.org October 18, 2021
An international team of researchers (USA – Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Germany, Switzerland) reviews recent progress in utilizing ultrafast light-matter interaction to control the macroscopic properties of quantum materials. Particular emphasis is placed on photoinduced phenomena that do not result from ultrafast heating effects but rather emerge from microscopic processes that are inherently nonthermal in nature. Many of these processes can be described as transient modifications to the free energy landscape resulting from the redistribution of quasiparticle populations, the dynamical modification of coupling strengths, and the resonant driving of the crystal lattice. Other pathways result from the coherent dressing of a material’s quantum states by the light field. A selection of recently discovered effects leveraging these mechanisms, as well as the technological advances that led to their discovery, are discussed. A road map for how the field can harness these nonthermal pathways to create new functionalities is presented…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
A quasi-two-dimensional crystal placed between contacts is excited by a laser pulse… Credit: Alberto de la Torre, Dante Kennes, Martin Claassen, Simon Gerber, James McIver, Michael Sentef