Evidence for topological defects in a photoinduced phase transition

Zong, Alfred; Kogar, Anshul; Bie, Ya -Qing; Rohwer, Timm; Lee, Changmin; Baldini, Edoardo; Ergeçen, Emre; Yilmaz, Mehmet B.; Freelon, Byron; Sie, Edbert J.; Zhou, Hengyun; Straquadine, Joshua; Walmsley, Philip; Dolgirev, Pavel E.; Rozhkov, Alexander V.; Fisher, Ian R.; Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo; Fine, Boris V.; Gedik, Nuh

doi:10.1038/s41567-018-0311-9

Evidence for topological defects in a photoinduced phase transition

Journal Article · Mon Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Nature Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0311-9· OSTI ID:1493355

^[1]; Kogar, Anshul ^[1]; Bie, Ya -Qing ^[1]; Rohwer, Timm ^[2]; Lee, Changmin ^[1]; Baldini, Edoardo ^[1]; Ergeçen, Emre ^[1]; Yilmaz, Mehmet B. ^[1]; Freelon, Byron ^[3]; ^[4]; Zhou, Hengyun ^[5]; Straquadine, Joshua ^[6]; ^[6]; Dolgirev, Pavel E. ^[7]; Rozhkov, Alexander V. ^[8]; Fisher, Ian R. ^[6]; ^[1]; Fine, Boris V. ^[9]; ^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of Louisville, Louisville, KY (United States)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow (Russia)
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow (Russia); Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russia)
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow (Russia); Univ. of Heidelberg, Heidelberg (Germany)

Upon excitation with an intense laser pulse, a symmetry-broken ground state can undergo a non-equilibrium phase transition through pathways different from those in thermal equilibrium. The mechanism underlying these photoinduced phase transitions has long been researched in the study of condensed matter systems, but many details in this ultrafast, non-adiabatic regime still remain to be clarified. To this end, we investigate the light-induced melting of a unidirectional charge density wave (CDW) in LaTe₃. Using a suite of time-resolved probes, we independently track the amplitude and phase dynamics of the CDW. We find that a fast (approximately 1 picosecond) recovery of the CDW amplitude is followed by a slower re-establishment of phase coherence. This longer timescale is dictated by the presence of topological defects: long-range order is inhibited and is only restored when the defects annihilate. Finally, our results provide a framework for understanding other photoinduced phase transitions by identifying the generation of defects as a governing mechanism.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Excitonics (CE); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1493355

Journal Information:: Nature Physics, Journal Name: Nature Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 15; ISSN 1745-2473

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group (NPG)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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