Observing Interactions as they happen: Ultrafast Optical Spectroscopies of Quantum Materials
Event Details:
Program Description
Quantum materials exhibit strong and competing interactions between their fundamental constituents, leading to exotic properties such as high-temperature superconductivity and nanoscale charge and spin ordering. Time-resolved spectroscopies offer the unique opportunity to observe such interactions as they unfold. For example dynamical information can help clarify the driving forces for the formation of electron pairing and localization.
In this talk I will review recent results on several complex materials, with particular emphasis on ultrafast Mid-IR and THz experiments on stripe ordered nickelates. Experiments in these spectral regions allow access to the dynamics of low-energy degrees of freedom, including collective electronic excitations and phonons. In combination with ultrafast x-ray scattering experiment at the LCLS such experiments yield novel insight into the electron-phonon coupling and the dynamics of electronic stripes.
