Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃
When electrons in a solid are excited by light, they can alter the free energy landscape and access phases of matter that are out of reach in thermal equilibrium. This accessibility becomes important in the presence of phase competition, when one state of matter is preferred over another by only a s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128670 |
| _version_ | 1826200896204177408 |
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| author | Kogar, Anshul Zong, Alfred Bie, Yaqing Wang, Xirui Rohwer, Timm Yang, Yafang Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo Gedik, Nuh |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Kogar, Anshul Zong, Alfred Bie, Yaqing Wang, Xirui Rohwer, Timm Yang, Yafang Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo Gedik, Nuh |
| author_sort | Kogar, Anshul |
| collection | MIT |
| description | When electrons in a solid are excited by light, they can alter the free energy landscape and access phases of matter that are out of reach in thermal equilibrium. This accessibility becomes important in the presence of phase competition, when one state of matter is preferred over another by only a small energy scale that, in principle, is surmountable by the excitation. Here, we study a layered compound, LaTe3, where a small lattice anisotropy in the a–c plane results in a unidirectional charge density wave (CDW) along the c axis1,2. Using ultrafast electron diffraction, we find that, after photoexcitation, the CDW along the c axis is weakened and a different competing CDW along the a axis subsequently emerges. The timescales characterizing the relaxation of this new CDW and the reestablishment of the original CDW are nearly identical, which points towards a strong competition between the two orders. The new density wave represents a transient non-equilibrium phase of matter with no equilibrium counterpart, and this study thus provides a framework for discovering similar states of matter that are ‘trapped’ under equilibrium conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:43:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/128670 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:43:26Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1286702022-09-27T21:28:43Z Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃ Kogar, Anshul Zong, Alfred Bie, Yaqing Wang, Xirui Rohwer, Timm Yang, Yafang Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo Gedik, Nuh Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics MIT Materials Research Laboratory When electrons in a solid are excited by light, they can alter the free energy landscape and access phases of matter that are out of reach in thermal equilibrium. This accessibility becomes important in the presence of phase competition, when one state of matter is preferred over another by only a small energy scale that, in principle, is surmountable by the excitation. Here, we study a layered compound, LaTe3, where a small lattice anisotropy in the a–c plane results in a unidirectional charge density wave (CDW) along the c axis1,2. Using ultrafast electron diffraction, we find that, after photoexcitation, the CDW along the c axis is weakened and a different competing CDW along the a axis subsequently emerges. The timescales characterizing the relaxation of this new CDW and the reestablishment of the original CDW are nearly identical, which points towards a strong competition between the two orders. The new density wave represents a transient non-equilibrium phase of matter with no equilibrium counterpart, and this study thus provides a framework for discovering similar states of matter that are ‘trapped’ under equilibrium conditions. United States. Department of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Science. Division Accelerator & Detector R&D program (Contracts DE-AC02-05-CH11231 and DE-AC02-76SF00515 (MeV UED at SLAC) United States. Department of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Science (Contract DE-AC02-76SF00515) United States. Department of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Science (Award DE-SC0001088) Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative (Grant GBMF4541 (sample preparation and characterization)) 2020-11-30T13:59:23Z 2020-11-30T13:59:23Z 2019-11 2020-10-23T18:13:20Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1745-2473 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128670 Kogar, Anshul et al. “Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃.” Nature Physics, 16, 2 (November 2019): 159–163 © 2019 The Author(s) en 10.1038/S41567-019-0705-3 Nature Physics Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Springer Science and Business Media LLC arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Kogar, Anshul Zong, Alfred Bie, Yaqing Wang, Xirui Rohwer, Timm Yang, Yafang Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo Gedik, Nuh Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃ |
| title | Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃ |
| title_full | Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃ |
| title_fullStr | Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃ |
| title_short | Light-induced charge density wave in LaT₃ |
| title_sort | light induced charge density wave in lat₃ |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128670 |
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