Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Collective Excitations in Quantum Materials

Description

This book studies the dynamics of fundamental collective excitations in quantum materials, focusing on the use of state-of-the-art ultrafast broadband optical spectroscopy. Collective behaviour in solids lies at the origin of several cooperative phenomena that can lead to profound transformations, instabilities and phase transitions. Revealing the dynamics of collective excitations is a topic of pivotal importance in contemporary condensed matter physics, as it provides information on the strength and spatial distribution of interactions and correlation. The experimental framework explored in this book relies on setting a material out-of-equilibrium by an ultrashort laser pulse and monitoring the photo-induced changes in its optical properties over a broad spectral region in the visible or deep-ultraviolet. Collective excitations (e.g. plasmons, excitons, phonons…) emerge either in the frequency domain as spectral features across the probed range, or in the time domain as coherent modes triggered by the pump pulse. Mapping the temporal evolution of these collective excitations provides access to the hierarchy of low-energy phenomena occurring in the solid during its path towards thermodynamic equilibrium. This methodology is used to investigate a number of strongly interacting and correlated materials with an increasing degree of internal complexity beyond conventional band theory. Front Matter ....Pages i-liv Strong Interactions and Correlations (Edoardo Baldini)....Pages 1-37 Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Spectroscopy of Condensed Matter (Edoardo Baldini)....Pages 39-74 Clocking the Interband Scattering in Strongly Interacting Multiband Metals (Edoardo Baldini)....Pages 75-107 Revealing Bound Exciton Physics in Strongly Interacting Band Insulators (Edoardo Baldini)....Pages 109-168 Probing the Electron-Phonon Interaction in Correlated Electron Systems (Edoardo Baldini)....Pages 169-209 Disentangling the Signatures of Precursor Superconductivity in Cuprates (Edoardo Baldini)....Pages 211-248 Lattice-Mediated Magnetic Order Melting in Multiferroic Mott Insulators (Edoardo Baldini)....Pages 249-287 Back Matter ....Pages 289-316