Towards coherent control of quantum materials

by Dr Hermann Dürr (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden)

Thursday 13 Jun 2019, 09:00 → 10:00 Europe/Berlin

456 (DESY, Hamburg, Building 25f, 4th Floor)

The idea to probe, change and control functional materials properties with the help of light has long intrigued researchers in materials science. Using femtosecond laser pulses it is now possible to control the magnetic order or even enhance superconductivity. However, the microscopic mechanisms behind these phenomena remain a matter of controversy. Fs x-ray pulses offer the fascinating possibility to probe quasiparticle excitations in real time. With hard x-rays this has led to transient phonon detection throughout the Brillouin zone [1]. Here I will discuss the possibility to use soft x-rays for probing magnons [2]. Tailored fs laser excitation and few-fs soft x-ray pulses will be key parameter to achieve this goal. [1] T. Henighan, et al., Phys. Rev. B 93, 220301(R) (2016). [2] E. Iacocca, et al., Nature Communications 10:1756 (2019)