Raum: Seminar Room IV, O1.111 Gastgeber: Andrea Cavalleri

Eryin Wang - Novel and tailored electronic structures in 2D material heterostructures

MPSD Seminar
The big family of 2D materials provides variable and interesting stacking blocksfor constructing 2D heterostructures to achieve novel electronic propertiesdistinct from its constitute materials. So far, the 2D material heterostructureshave been an emerging research area with increasing scientific interest. In thistalk, I will present the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies ontwo novel 2D heterostructures, Bi2Se3/BSCCO [1] and graphene/h-BN [2,3]. Iwill show how the proximity effect (in Bi2Se3/BSCCO) and moire superlatticepotential (in graphene/h-BN) tune the electronic properties and further lead tothe realization of many novel quantum phenomena. The variety of 2D materialsgenerates great possibilities in 2D heterostructures which are waiting for moreresearch investigations. [mehr]

Simon Wall - Spins, Phonons and Phase Separation in Correlated Materials

MPSD Seminar
Electrons, phonons and spins are the key ingredients that make up correlated materials and understanding how these parameters interact is vital for determining their relative interactions. In this talk I will discuss our recent experiments on how to measure these interactions on a range of time and length-scales. I will discuss demagnetization of the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator Cr2O3 as measured through second harmonic generation, in which the demagnetization pathway is dictated by phonons. Then I will discuss the insulator to metal transition in VO2, both in terms of static nano-scale measurements of phase separation measured with resonant soft X-ray holography and dynamic measurements of how the phonon degree of freedom evolves away from the zone centre using time-resolved thermal diffuse scattering. [mehr]

Sangwan Sim - Ultrafast optical spectroscopy of topological insulators and two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides

MPSD Seminar
Ultrafast optical spectroscopy of quantum materials uncovers their intrinsic physical properties such as light-matter interactions and dynamics of particles and quasi-particles. In this presentation, I will present our ultrafast optical studies of two different electronic systems: topological insulators (TIs) and two-dimensional transition metal Dichalcogenides (2D TMDs). In TIs, where Dirac-like topological surface states (TSSs) coexist with an underlying bulk insulator, we have investigated ultrafast dynamics of TSS Dirac fermions and plasmons, and their interactions with phonon by using optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy. We have found that, unlike Dirac electrons in graphene, TSS Dirac electrons exhibit unique dynamic features originating from interactions with coexisting bulk insulator. In the studies of 2D TMDs, we have performed ultrafast optical pump-probe spectroscopy of anisotropic excitons in group-VII TMDs. We discuss coherent light-matter interactions such as excitonic optical Stark effect and quantum beats, both of which exhibit significant laser-polarization dependence, resulting from anisotropic nature of the excitons. [mehr]

Paolo G. Radaelli - Lecture 1: Introduction to symmetry in CMP

MPSD Seminar

Paolo G. Radaelli - Lecture 2: Crystallographic point groups and group theory

MPSD Seminar

Paolo G. Radaelli - Lecture 3: Introduction to the theory of representations

MPSD Seminar

Paolo G. Radaelli - Lecture 7: Tensors and tensor products of representations

MPSD Seminar

Paolo G. Radaelli - Lecture 8: “Physical” tensors

MPSD Seminar
Investigation of the ultrafast photoexcited electronic response in semiconductors has provided invaluable insights into carrier dynamics. Germanium and its alloys with Si have promise for creating multi-junction solar cells with higher efficiency and mid-infrared optoelectronics. However, the dynamics are complicated by multiple energetically similar valleys, rendering an understanding of carrier thermalization and population inversion following photoexcitation difficult. Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) has recently been employed to probe ultrafast electron and hole dynamics in germanium at the M4,5-edge (~30 eV). In the experiment, a 5 fs VIS-NIR pump pulse excites carriers across the direct band gap and the dynamics are probed with a time-delayed broadband extreme ultraviolet pulse generated by high harmonic generation in xenon spanning ~20-45 eV. The observed transient absorption signal contains the energetic distribution of both carriers, electrons and holes, due to state blocking as well as spectroscopic features induced by bandshifts (e.g. due to band gap renormalization) and broadening (e.g. due to many body effects). By iterative procedures the measured signal can be successfully decoupled into these contributions resolving the carrier and band dynamics with excellent time and energy resolution. Hot carrier relaxation on a 100-fs time scale and carrier recombination on a 1-ps time scale are observed in nanocrystalline Germanium. Going from bulk semiconductor to two-dimensional layers, long-lived core-exciton states are observed at the MoN2,3 edge between 32 and 35 eV in MoS2. Comparing the XUV absorption spectra of bulk and monolayer MoS2, a ~4 eV red-shift suggests a tightly bound core-exciton. The lifetime of the core-exciton states can be directly measured in the time domain. Furthermore, transient Stark shifts, coherences, and coherent population transfer between different core-exciton states are observed. [mehr]
Coherent Multi-Dimensional Spectroscopy (CMDS) is a powerful technique that is directly sensitive to couplings between quantum states. In the optical regime, the technique is well-suited to investigate interactions between the electronic degrees of freedom in systems such as biological light-harvesting complexes and nanostructures. Following a general introduction on Multi-Dimensional Spectroscopy, I will present an ultrafast optical two-dimensional spectrometer based on a hollow-core fiber for broadband visible continuum generation and two acousto-optic pulse shapers arranged in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer for the production of fully-coherent pulse trains. The setup can easily switch between a pump-probe geometry and a collinear geometry with polarization shaping capabilities. The methodological improvements presented here represent important enabling steps towards the longstanding goal of achieving an ”Optical NMR”, and extends the realm of all-optical Multi-Dimensional Spectroscopy to spatially heterogeneous samples. The methods developed are then applied on two classes of systems. The model system Nile Blue is used to validate the performance of the instrument. The spectrometer is also used to reveal new processes in colloidal semiconductor CdSe nanocrystals. One of the most fascinating aspects of semiconductor nanocrystals is their ability to host multiple excitations per particle. When multiple excitons are created in the same nanocrystal, bound quasi-particles called multiexcitons form. In contrast to the single exciton, the structural and dynamic properties of multiexcitons remains, to this day, relatively poorly understood due to their complexity. In the last part of the seminar, I will discuss new insights gained on the structure of the ground state biexciton thanks to the optical CMDS method. [mehr]

Short Course on: Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Phonons and Spin Excitations in Solids - Lecture V

MPSD Seminar
Lecture V Abstract will follow. [mehr]

Short Course on: Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Phonons and Spin Excitations in Solids - Lecture VI

MPSD Seminar
Lecture VI Abstract will follow. [mehr]

Quantum enhanced super-resolution microscopy

MPSD Seminar
Although the principles of quantum optics have yielded multiple ideas to surpass the classical limitations in optical microscopy, their application in life science imaging has remained extremely challenging. In this talk, I will present two works that apply measurements of photon correlations for the benefit of localization microscopy and image scanning microscopy (ISM). The first uses photon antibunching measurement to estimate the number of emitters in a fluctuating scene and can potentially speed-up super-resolution techniques based on localization microscopy [1]. In the second work, we employ photon antibunching as the imaging contrast itself. Measuring the spatial distribution of ‘missing’ photon pairs in an ISM architecture may enhance lateral resolution four time beyond the diffraction limit [2]. The robustness of the antibunching signal enabled super-resolved imaging of fixed cells, relying solely on a quantum contrast. [mehr]

Shedding New Light on Dirac Materials with Nonlinear Optics

MPSD Seminar
Nonlinear optics has recently emerged as an attractive approach for both probing topological properties and driving Dirac materials into new states. Here, I will describe our use of ultrafast nonlinear optics to study three representative Dirac materials: graphene micro-ribbons, topological insulators, and Weyl semimetals. [mehr]

Unconventional Charge Density Wave Transitions

MPSD Seminar
Historically charge density waves have been associated with the notions of Fermi surface nesting and, at the transition temperature, a soft phonon mode. In this talk, I will present two cases that defy this common theme. First, I will show that TiSe2 undergoes a transition due to exciton condensation, which exhibits a soft mode of a different, electronic variety. Second, when driving the system away from equilibrium, the phase transition is mediated by topological defects. These defects allow for the formation of a charge density wave that does not occur in equilibrium. This light-induced charge density wave shows some unique properties that suggest that it is not just a trivial extension of an equilibrium one. [mehr]

Tuning quantum materials out of equilibrium: A FIB-microstructuring approach

MPSD Seminar
“Quantum materials” loosely defines a broad collection of materials whose ground states are defined by unusual quantum properties. This research largely focuses on macroscopic single crystals, yet naturally interesting quantum phenomena lie beyond their equilibrium state. My group works towards reducing the sample size onto the sub-mm length scale, following the general idea that small samples can be driven more strongly and react faster than on the macro scale. Our main tool is Focused Ion Beam machining capable of cutting single crystals into high quality quantum devices. I will present two concrete research projects showcasing how new quantum states out of equilibrium can be accessed and investigated in FIB-prepared microcrystal structures. The first concerns the heavy fermion superconductor, CeIrIn5 (Tc~400mK). When a mm-sized structure is firmly coupled to a mm-sized substrate of different thermal expansion, the microstructure is under significant strain at low temperatures. By precisely controlling its shape, the emergent strain field can be controlled. The key difference to other approaches, such as uniaxial strain, is that complex, yet well-controlled, spatially varying strain fields can be achieved. In collaboration with Katja Nowack (Cornell), we have experimentally mapped out the resulting superconducting landscape in the devices using scanning-SQUID microscopy, and show that this spatial modulation can be well captured by finite element simulations. [1] Second, I will present our ongoing efforts to experimentally identify pseudo-magnetic fields in 3D Dirac semi-metals [2,3]. Owing to their Dirac dispersion, deformation of the crystal structure does not open a gap at the nodes, but shifts the location of the nodes in k-space and hence playing the role of a “pseudo-magnetic field”, B5. I will show how microstructuring gives us unprecedented control of such a process, and discuss how future. [mehr]
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