skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Ultrafast dynamics of spin and orbital correlations in quantum materials: an energy- and momentum-resolved perspective

Journal Article · · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. A, Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division
  2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)
  3. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department
  4. ShanghaiTech Univ., Shanghai (China). School of Physical Science and Technology
  5. Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Tarragona (Spain)

Many remarkable properties of quantum materials emerge from states with intricate coupling between the charge, spin and orbital degrees of freedom. Ultrafast photo-excitations of these materials hold great promise for understanding and controlling the properties of these states. Here we introduce time-resolved resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (tr-RIXS) as a means of measuring the charge, spin and orbital excitations out of equilibrium. These excitations encode the correlations and interactions that determine the detailed properties of the states generated. After outlining the basic principles and instrumentation of tr-RIXS, we review our first observations of transient antiferromagnetic correlations in quasi two dimensions in a photo-excited Mott insulator and present possible future routes of this fast-developing technique. The increasing number of X-ray free electron laser facilities not only enables tackling long-standing fundamental scientific problems, but also promises to unleash novel inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopies.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China (MOST); Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1508359
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1480978
Report Number(s):
BNL-209365-2018-JAAM; 147631
Journal Information:
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. A, Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 377, Issue 2145; ISSN 1364-503X
Publisher:
The Royal Society PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (86)

Ultra-fast photo-carrier relaxation in Mott insulators with short-range spin correlations journal February 2016
High-temperature charge density wave correlations in La 1.875 Ba 0.125 CuO 4 without spin–charge locking journal November 2017
Producing coherent excitations in pumped Mott antiferromagnetic insulators journal December 2017
Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering operators for t 2 g orbital systems journal August 2017
Hard X-ray free-electron laser with femtosecond-scale timing jitter journal October 2017
Coherent science at the SwissFEL x-ray laser journal March 2010
Coupled charge and spin dynamics in a photoexcited doped Mott insulator journal June 2018
Ultrafast and reversible control of the exchange interaction in Mott insulators journal March 2015
Magnetic Excitations and Phase Separation in the Underdoped La 2 x Sr x CuO 4 Superconductor Measured by Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering journal February 2010
Spin-Polarized Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy of High Energy, Large Wave Vector Spin Waves in Ultrathin fcc Co Films on Cu(001) journal September 2003
Persistent spin excitations in doped antiferromagnets revealed by resonant inelastic light scattering journal February 2014
Spin-orbit-driven magnetic structure and excitation in the 5d pyrochlore Cd2Os2O7 journal June 2016
Large Spin-Wave Energy Gap in the Bilayer Iridate Sr 3 Ir 2 O 7 : Evidence for Enhanced Dipolar Interactions Near the Mott Metal-Insulator Transition journal October 2012
Towards properties on demand in quantum materials journal October 2017
Colloquium : Theory of intertwined orders in high temperature superconductors journal May 2015
Direct Measurement of Anharmonic Decay Channels of a Coherent Phonon journal September 2018
Multistage dynamics of the spin-lattice polaron formation journal September 2014
SAXES, a high resolution spectrometer for resonant x-ray emission in the 400–1600eV energy range journal November 2006
Demonstration of self-seeding in a hard-X-ray free-electron laser journal August 2012
Manipulating magnetism by ultrafast control of the exchange interaction journal October 2017
The beamline ID32 at the ESRF for soft X-ray high energy resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and polarisation dependent X-ray absorption spectroscopy
  • Brookes, N. B.; Yakhou-Harris, F.; Kummer, K.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 903 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.07.001
journal September 2018
Construction and Commissioning of PAL-XFEL Facility journal May 2017
Atomic inner-shell X-ray laser at 1.46 nanometres pumped by an X-ray free-electron laser journal January 2012
Highly coherent and stable pulses from the FERMI seeded free-electron laser in the extreme ultraviolet journal September 2012
Theoretical understanding of photon spectroscopies in correlated materials in and out of equilibrium journal August 2018
Doping a Mott insulator: Physics of high-temperature superconductivity journal January 2006
Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models journal January 2009
Large-Amplitude Spin Dynamics Driven by a THz Pulse in Resonance with an Electromagnon journal March 2014
Nonthermal symmetry-broken states in the strongly interacting Hubbard model journal November 2012
On the possibility to detect multipolar order in URu 2 Si 2 by the electric quadrupolar transition of resonant elastic x-ray scattering journal August 2017
Extreme ultraviolet resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at a seeded free-electron laser journal December 2016
Achieving few-femtosecond time-sorting at hard X-ray free-electron lasers journal February 2013
Fourier-transform inelastic X-ray scattering from time- and momentum-dependent phonon–phonon correlations journal October 2013
Probing dynamics in quantum materials with femtosecond X-rays journal June 2018
Novel spin-orbit coupling driven emergent states in iridate-based heterostructures journal May 2019
Antiferromagnetic order and domains in Sr 3 Ir 2 O 7 probed by x-ray resonant scattering journal May 2012
Non-equilibrium magnetic interactions in strongly correlated systems journal June 2013
Introduction to the Theory of Thermal Neutron Scattering book May 2012
Ferro-Orbital Order and Strong Magnetic Anisotropy in the Parent Compounds of Iron-Pnictide Superconductors journal December 2009
Three-dimensional charge density wave order in YBa2Cu3O6.67 at high magnetic fields journal November 2015
Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering studies of elementary excitations journal June 2011
Persistence of magnetic excitations in La2−xSrxCuO4 from the undoped insulator to the heavily overdoped non-superconducting metal journal August 2013
Spin-selective thermalization plateau in the mass-imbalanced Hubbard model journal October 2017
Modular soft x-ray spectrometer for applications in energy sciences and quantum materials journal January 2017
Stimulated X-ray emission for materials science journal August 2013
First operation of a free-electron laser generating GW power radiation at 32 nm wavelength journal November 2005
Nonthermal Antiferromagnetic Order and Nonequilibrium Criticality in the Hubbard Model journal March 2013
Towards 10 meV resolution: The design of an ultrahigh resolution soft X-ray RIXS spectrometer journal November 2016
Quartz-based flat-crystal resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectrometer with sub-10 meV energy resolution journal January 2018
Ultrafast energy- and momentum-resolved dynamics of magnetic correlations in the photo-doped Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 journal May 2016
A compact X-ray free-electron laser emitting in the sub-ångström region journal June 2012
The simultaneous measurement of energy and linear polarization of the scattered radiation in resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering journal November 2014
First lasing and operation of an ångstrom-wavelength free-electron laser journal August 2010
MERIX—Next generation medium energy resolution inelastic X-ray scattering instrument at the APS journal June 2013
Polarization Dependence of L - and M -Edge Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering in Transition-Metal Compounds journal March 2006
Photon Beam Transport and Scientific Instruments at the European XFEL journal June 2017
Principles of Condensed Matter Physics book January 1995
Dynamics and Control in Complex Transition Metal Oxides journal July 2014
Experimental Demonstration of a Soft X-Ray Self-Seeded Free-Electron Laser journal February 2015
Intense paramagnon excitations in a large family of high-temperature superconductors journal July 2011
Nonlinear lattice dynamics as a basis for enhanced superconductivity in YBa2Cu3O6.5 journal December 2014
Doping Dependence of Collective Spin and Orbital Excitations in the Spin-1 Quantum Antiferromagnet La 2 x Sr x NiO 4 Observed by X Rays journal April 2017
Twisted Hubbard Model for Sr 2 IrO 4 : Magnetism and Possible High Temperature Superconductivity journal March 2011
Theoretical Demonstration of How the Dispersion of Magnetic Excitations in Cuprate Compounds can be Determined Using Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering journal September 2009
Widely tunable two-colour seeded free-electron laser source for resonant-pump resonant-probe magnetic scattering journal January 2016
Ultrafast time-resolved x-ray scattering reveals diffusive charge order dynamics in La 2– x Ba x CuO 4 journal August 2019
Ultrafast and reversible control of the exchange interaction in Mott insulators text January 2015
Stimulated X-ray emission for materials science text January 2013
Extreme ultraviolet resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at a seeded free-electron laser text January 2016
Introduction to the Theory of Thermal Neutron Scattering journal December 1979
Intense paramagnon excitations in a large family of high-temperature superconductors text January 2011
Nonthermal symmetry broken states in the strongly interacting Hubbard model text January 2012
Nonthermal antiferromagnetic order and nonequilibrium criticality in the Hubbard model text January 2012
Persistence of magnetic excitations in La2-xSrxCuO4 from the undoped insulator to the heavily overdoped non-superconducting metal text January 2013
Persistent spin excitations in doped antiferromagnets revealed by resonant inelastic light scattering text January 2013
The simultaneous measurement of energy and linear polarization of the scattered radiation in resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering text January 2014
Ultra-fast photo-carrier relaxation in Mott insulators with short-range spin correlations text January 2014
Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering operators for $t_{2g}$ orbital systems text January 2017
Producing Coherent Excitations in Pumped Mott Antiferromagnetic Insulators text January 2017
On the possibility to detect multipolar order in URu$_2$Si$_2$ by the electric quadrupolar transition of resonant elastic X-ray scattering text January 2017
Coupled charge and spin dynamics in a photo-excited Mott insulator text January 2018
Multiplexed high resolution soft x-ray RIXS
  • Chuang, Y. -D.; Anderson, C.; Benk, M.
  • PROCEEDINGS OF THE 12TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYNCHROTRON RADIATION INSTRUMENTATION – SRI2015, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4952931
conference January 2016
Electronic Screening-Enhanced Hole Pairing in Two-Leg Spin Ladders Studied by High-Resolution Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering at Cu M Edges journal August 2014
Unusual Two-stage Dynamics of the Spin-Lattice Polaron Formation text January 2014
Nonlinear lattice dynamics as a basis for enhanced superconductivity in YBa2Cu3O6.5 text January 2014
Probing dynamics in quantum materials with femtosecond x-rays preprint January 2018