Snapshots of a light-induced metastable hidden phase driven by the collapse of charge order.

ABSTRACT: Nonequilibrium hidden states provide a unique window into thermally inaccessible regimes of strong coupling between microscopic degrees of freedom in quantum materials. Understanding the origin of these states allows the exploration of far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics and the development of optoelectronic devices with on-demand photoresponses. However, mapping the ultrafast formation of a long-lived hidden phase remains a longstanding challenge since the initial state is not recovered rapidly. Here, using state-of-the-art single-shot spectroscopy techniques, we present a direct ultrafast visualization of the photoinduced phase transition to both transient and long-lived hidden states in an electronic crystal, 1T-TaS₂, and demonstrate a commonality in their microscopic

SUBMITTER: Gao FY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9307249 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature