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Results for “Photoinduced effect”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Spinodal electronic phase separation during insulator-metal transitions

Electronic phase transitions such as insulator-metal transitions are common in strongly correlated systems. Here, using a combination of thermodynamic linear-stability analysis and phase-field simulations and employing VO 2 as a prototypical example, we predict that an insulator-metal transition driven by photoexcitation may involve an intermediate, modulated charge density state with a temperature-dependent characteristic wavelength. It is shown that such an intermediate two-phase electronic state is formed through a spinodal mechanism and that its formation can be generic for insulator-metal transitions driven by fast stimuli. This transient electronic phase separation is expected to stimulate future experimental and computational efforts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Ultrafast light-induced shear strain probed by time-resolved x-ray diffraction: Multiferroic BiFeO 3 as a case study

Enabling the light control of complex systems on ultrashort timescales gives rise to rich physics with promising applications. Although crucial, the quantitative determination of both the longitudinal and the shear photoinduced strains still remains challenging. Here, by scrutinizing asymmetric Bragg peaks pairs (±h01) in BiFeO 3 using picosecond time-resolved x-ray diffraction experiments, we simultaneously determine the longitudinal and shear strains. Importantly, we reveal a difference in the dynamical response of the longitudinal strain with respect to the shear one due to an interplay of quasilongitudinal and quasitransverse acoustic modes, well reproduced by our model. Lastly, we show that the relative amplitude of those strains can be explained only if both thermal and nonthermal processes contribute to the acoustic phonon photogeneration process.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nonequilibrium phonon tuning and mapping in few-layer graphene with infrared nanoscopy

Electron-phonon interactions are fundamentally important physical processes responsible for many key discoveries in condensed matter physics and material sciences. Herein, by exploiting the scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM) excited with a femtosecond infrared (IR) laser, we explored the strong coupling between IR phonons in few-layer graphene (FLG) with ultrahot electrons, which are heated up by the intense laser field enhanced by the s-SNOM tip. More specifically, we found that the intensity of the phonon resonance can be tuned systematically by varying the laser power that controls the electron temperature. Furthermore, the high spatial resolution of s-SNOM allows us to map the local phonon characteristics at sharp boundaries and nanostructures. Our results offer insights into the intriguing physics behind the electron-phonon interactions in nonequilibrium conditions and open a pathway for manipulating phonons with optical means.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nonequilibrium optical response of a one-dimensional Mott insulator

We define, compute, and analyze the nonequilibrium differential optical conductivity of the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model at half-filling after applying a pump pulse, using the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method. The melting of the Mott insulator is accompanied by a suppression of the local magnetic moment and ensuing photogeneration of doublon-holon pairs. The differential optical conductivity reveals (i) mid-gap states related to parity-forbidden optical states and (ii) strong renormalization and hybridization of the excitonic resonance and the absorption band, yielding a Fano resonance. We offer evidence and interpret such a resonance as a signature of nonequilibrium optical excitations resembling excitonic strings, (bi)excitons, and unbound doublon-holon pairs, depending on the magnitude of the intersite Coulomb repulsion. We discuss our results in the context of pump and probe spectroscopy experiments on organic Mott insulators.

1-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2021

Scanning ultrafast electron microscopy reveals photovoltage dynamics at a deeply buried $p^- \mathrm{Si/SiO_2}$ interface

The understanding and control of charge carrier interactions with defects at buried insulator/semiconductor interfaces is essential for achieving optimum performance in modern electronics. In this work, we report on the use of scanning ultrafast electron microscopy (SUEM) to remotely probe the dynamics of excited carriers at a Si surface buried below a thick thermal oxide. Our measurements illustrate a previously unidentified SUEM contrast mechanism, whereby optical modulation of the space-charge field in the semiconductor modulates the electric field in the thick oxide, thus affecting its secondary electron yield. By analyzing the SUEM contrast as a function of time and laser fluence we demonstrate the diffusion mediated capture of excited carriers by interfacial traps.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Floquet vortex states induced by light carrying an orbital angular momentum

Here, we propose a scheme to create an electronic Floquet vortex state by irradiating a two-dimensional semiconductor with a laser light carrying nonzero orbital angular momentum. We analytically and numerically study the properties of the Floquet vortex states, with methods analogous to the ones previously applied to the analysis of superconducting vortex states. We show that such Floquet vortex states are similar to superconducting vortex states, and they exhibit a wide range of tunability. To illustrate the potential utility of such tunability, we show how such states could be used for quantum state engineering.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2023

Photoinduced enhancement of superconductivity in the plaquette Hubbard model

Real-time dynamics techniques have proven increasingly useful in theoretically and experimentally understanding strongly correlated systems. By employing unbiased time-resolved exact diagonalization, we study pump dynamics in the two-dimensional plaquette Hubbard model, where distinct hopping integrals t h and t' h are present within and between plaquettes. In the intermediate coupling regime, a significant enhancement of d-wave superconductivity is observed and compared with that obtained by simply examining expectation values with the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian. Furthermore, our work provides a further understanding of superconductivity in the Hubbard model, extends the description of the pairing amplitude to the frequency-anisotropy plane, and offers a promising approach for experimentally engineering emergent out-of-equilibrium states.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Theory for anomalous terahertz emission in striped cuprate superconductors

Recent experiments in the doped cuprates La 2−𝑥 ⁢Ba 𝑥⁢ CuO 4 have revealed the emission of anomalous terahertz radiation after impulsive optical excitation. Here, we theoretically investigate the nonlinear electrodynamics of such striped superconductors and explore the origin of the observed radiation. We argue that photoexcitation is converted into a photocurrent by a second-order optical nonlinearity, which is activated by the breaking of inversion symmetry in certain stripe configurations. We point out the importance of including umklapp photocurrents modulated at the stripe periodicity itself, which impulsively drive surface Josephson plasmons and lead to a resonant structure of outgoing radiation, consistent with the experiments. We speculate on the utility of the proposed mechanism in the context of generating tunable terahertz radiation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Characteristic exciton energy scales in antiferromagnetic NiPS 3

Two-dimensional antiferromagnets are promising materials for spintronics. The van der Waals antiferromagnet NiPS 3 has attracted extensive interest due to its ultranarrow exciton feature which is closely linked with the magnetic ordering. Here, we use time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy to investigate photoexcited carriers in NiPS 3 . We identify the onset of interband transitions and estimate the exciton dissociation energy from the excitation wavelength and fluence dependence of the transient spectral weight. Furthermore, our results provide key insights to quantify the exciton characteristics and validate the band structure for NiPS 3 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Stimulated Rayleigh Scattering Enhanced by a Longitudinal Plasma Mode in a Periodically Driven Dirac Semimetal Cd 3 As 2

Using broadband (12–45 THz) multi-terahertz spectroscopy, we show that stimulated Rayleigh scattering dominates the transient optical conductivity of cadmium arsenide, a Dirac semimetal, under an optical driving field at 30 THz. Here, the characteristic dispersive line shape with net optical gain is accounted for by optical transitions between light-induced Floquet subbands, strikingly enhanced by the longitudinal plasma mode. Stimulated Rayleigh scattering with an unprecedentedly large refractive index change may pave the way for slow light generation in conductive solids at room temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evidence for Bootstrap Percolation Dynamics in a Photoinduced Phase Transition

Upon intense femtosecond photo-excitation, a many-body system can undergo a phase transition through a non-equilibrium route, but understanding these pathways remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we use time-resolved second harmonic generation to investigate a photo-induced phase transition in Ca 3 Ru 2 O 7 and show that mesoscale inhomogeneity profoundly influences the transition dynamics. We observe a marked slowing down of the characteristic time τ that quantifies the transition between two structures. τ evolves non-monotonically as a function of photo-excitation fluence, rising from below 200 fs to ~1.4 ps, then falling again to below 200 fs. To account for the observed behavior, we perform a bootstrap percolation simulation that demonstrates how local structural interactions govern the transition kinetics. Finally, our work highlights the importance of percolating mesoscale inhomogeneity in the dynamics of photo-induced phase transitions and provides a model that may be useful for understanding such transitions more broadly.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Excitonic Interactions and Mechanism for Ultrafast Interlayer Photoexcited Response in van der Waals Heterostructures

Optical dynamics in van der Waals heterobilayers is of fundamental scientific and practical interest. Based on a time-dependent adiabatic GW approach, we discover a new many-electron (excitonic) channel for converting photoexcited intralayer to interlayer excitations and the associated ultrafast optical responses in heterobilayers, which is conceptually different from the conventional single-particle picture. We find strong electron-hole interactions drive the dynamics and enhance the pump-probe optical responses by an order of magnitude with a rise time of ~3⁢0⁢0 fs in MoSe 2 /WSe 2 heterobilayers, in agreement with experiment.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Long-Lived Population Inversion in Resonantly Driven Excitonic Antiferromagnet

Van der Waals magnets are an emerging material family for investigating light-matter interactions and spin-correlated excitations. Here, we report the discovery of a photo-induced state with a lifetime of 17 ps in the van der Waals antiferromagnet NiPS 3 , which appears exclusively with resonant pumping at 1.476 eV in the antiferromagnetic state. Furthermore, the long-lived state comes with a negative photoconductivity, a characteristic optical response of population inversion. Our findings demonstrate a promising pathway to potentially achieve long-lived lasing at terahertz frequencies in reduced dimensions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Persistent opto-ferroelectric responses in molecular ferroelectrics

Persistent photoresponses require optical excitations to metastable states, which are rare of ionic origin due to the indirect photon-ion interaction. In this work, we explore the photoinduced metastable proton states in the proton-transfer type molecular ferroelectric croconic acid.We observe that, after the photoexcitation, the changes of structural and ferroelectric properties relax in ~10 3 s, indicating persistent photoresponses of ionic origin. In contrast, the photoconductivity relaxes within 1 s. The 10 3 s timescale suggests that the ionic metastable states result from proton transfer both along and out of the hydrogen bonds. Furthermore, this discovery unveils an ionic mechanism for the phototunability, which offers persistent opto-ferroelectric control for proton-transfer type molecular ferroelectrics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1971

G-r noise for Auger band-to-band processes.

Expressions for band-to-band Auger recombination, including the effects of photoinduced carriers in intrinsic photoconductors, are presented. They show good agreement with the expressions published by van Vliet (1958) and Long (1967) for g-r noise in intrinsic photoconductors for the case of band-to-band radiative recombination.

Breitzer, D.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Photoinduced phase separation in the lead halides is a polaronic effect

We present a perspective on recent observations of the photoinduced phase separation of halides in multi-component lead-halide perovskites. The spontaneous phase separation of an initial homogeneous solid solution under steady-state illumination conditions is found experimentally to be reversible, stochastic, weakly dependent on morphology, yet strongly dependent on composition and thermodynamic state. Regions enriched in a specific halide species that form upon phase separation are self-limiting in size, pinned to specific compositions, and grow in number in proportion to the steady-state carrier concentration until saturation. These empirical observations of robustness rule out explanations based on specific defect structures and point to the local modulation of an existing miscibility phase transition in the presence of excess charge carriers. A model for rationalizing existing observations based on the coupling between composition, strain, and charge density fluctuations through the formation of polarons is reviewed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗