Raum: Seminar Room IV, O1.111

An atomic perspective of the photodissociation and geminate recombination of triiodide in condensed phases

Disputation

Jhih-An You - Light-induced Electronic Hole Dynamics and its Application

Disputation

Cedric Weber - Many body effects in transition metal molecular systems

MPSD Seminar
Phenomena that are connected to quantum mechanics, such as magnetism, transport, and the effect of impurity atoms and disorder, and their relation to material design and energy needs are important for almost every branch of the industry. Density functional theory (DFT) was successful at making accurate Predictions for many materials, in particular compounds which have a metallic behaviour. DFT combines high accuracy and moderate computational cost, but the computational effort of performing calculations with conventional DFT approaches is still non negligible and scales with the cube of the number of atoms. A recent optimised implementation of DFT was however shown to scale linearly with the number of atoms (ONETEP), and opened the route to large scale DFT calculations for molecules and nano-structures. Nonetheless, one bottleneck of DFT and ONETEP, is that it fails at describing well some of the compounds where strong correlations are present, in particular because the computational scheme has to capture both the band-like character of the uncorrelated part of the compound and the Mott-like features emerging from the local strongly correlated centres. A recent progress has been made in this direction by the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), that allows to describe the two limits (metal and insulator) in a remarkable precise way when combined with DFT. The ONETEP+DMFT implementation and strategies to overcome the main bottlenecks of this type of calculations will be discussed, and its applications illustrated by a few case of studies, such as the role of quantum entanglement in Myoglobin and heme systems. [mehr]

Ultrafast spintronics with terahertz radiation

MPSD Seminar
Terahertz (THz) electromagnetic radiation is located in the gap that separates the realms of electronics (<1 THz) and optics (>30 THz). Sub-picosecond THz pulses are capable of probing and even controlling numerous low-energy excitations such as phonons, excitons and Cooper pairs. Here, we consider experiments showing that THz radiation is also a very useful and versatile tool in the fields of spintronics and ultrafast magnetism. First, we optically launch ultrafast spin transport and study its conversion into charge currents by means of the inverse spin Hall effect [Nature Nanotech. 8, 256 (2013)]. The charge current can be detected by sampling the concomitantly emitted THz radiation. This approach allows us to monitor ultrafast spin currents and provides a quick and easy estimate of the strength of the spin Hall effect in a contact-free manner. In addition, optimization of the spintronic structure has led to new, efficient and scalable emitters of THz pulses that fully cover the range from 1 to 30 THz without gap [Nature Photon. 10, 483 (2016)]. Second, we address spin-lattice coupling by selective excitation of optical phonons in the model ferrimagnetic insulator Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) and find a quenching of magnetic order on a time scale as short as 1 ps. This observation attests to a highly efficient coupling of crystal lattice and electron spins in this material. [mehr]

Enrico Ronca - Theoretical Methods for Excited State Properties in Extended Systems

MPSD Seminar
Light matter interaction is involved in several fundamental processes in Chemistry, Physics and Biology and is at the basis of Spectroscopy, experimental technique representing probably the most important source of information about properties of matter. Due to the significant improvements introduced in the last decades, spectroscopic techniques became very accurate and the interpretation of spectra, just by observation of the experimental results, became sometimes extremely complicated. For this reason the need of accurate theoretical methods able to reproduce and interpret the experimental results is becoming more and more pressing. The accurate theoretical simulation of spectra is therefore a very a challenging task, in particular for extended systems for which only approximated methods can be used. [mehr]

Matteo Puviani - Strongly correlated Floquet systems: Cluster Perturbation Theory approach

CFEL Theory Seminar
Under the influence of periodic fields quantum systems may reach regimes inaccessible under equilibrium conditions and new phases may be engineered by a tunable control [1]. The coexistence of periodic driving forces and electron-electron correlation is particularly interesting for two main reasons: on one side the external driving effectively modulates the inter-site hopping enhancing the effects of the e-e repulsion and the tendency to an insulating behaviour. On the other hand, irradiation itself is responsible for a photo-doping consisting in an electronic energy dressing that may turn a Mott insulator into a metal. Due to these competing effects, novel phenomena are expected when strongly correlated quantum systems are exposed to time-dependent fields. [mehr]
Density functional theory in finite basis sets tends to degenerate to one-body reduced (1RDM) functional theory. As all calculations are done in finite basis sets, a rigorous foundation of 1RDM functional theory is desirable. To avoid uniqueness problems in the potential to 1RDM mapping, I will discuss the foundations of 1RDM functional theory in finite basis sets at finite temperatures, both for fermions and bosons. The fermionic case turns out to be relatively straightforward, but the bosonic case requires more care. The main result is that we can rigorously proof v-representability and functional differentiability in this setting. [mehr]

Michael Sentef - Light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling from nonlinear electron-phonon coupling

MPSD Seminar
In light of recent experiments suggesting light-induced superconductivity [1] as well as light-enhanced electron-lattice coupling [2] for strongly driven IR phonons, it is natural to ask for a minimal and generic theoretical model that predicts such enhancement effects of important couplings in different material classes. One idea that comes to mind is nonlinear electron-phonon coupling [3,4]. A quadratic coupling term of the form " g2 nel x2IR " is generically the lowest order symmetry-allowed direct coupling of an IR-active phonon coordinate xIR to the electronic density nel in systems with inversion symmetry. In this talk I will present model evidence for light-enhanced electron-phonon coupling and light-induced effective attraction between electrons based on nonlinear electron-phonon coupling [3], the latter of which was already discussed in a similar context in [4]. [1] M. Mitrano et al., Nature 530, 461 (2016) [2] E. Pomarico et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 024304 (2017) [3] M. A. Sentef, arXiv: 1702.00952 [4] D. M. Kennes et al., Nature Physics (2017) , doi:10.1038/nphys4024, arXiv:1609.03802 [mehr]

Claudius Hubig - Time Evolution with a Krylov Variant for MPS Time Evolution with a Krylov Variant for MPS

MPSD Seminar
I will briefly motivate the need for time-evolution methods on matrix-product states and provide an overview over the available methods. Focus will then be placed on the Krylov subspace method to evaluate exp(-tH)|ψ❭, starting from a naive translation of the standard method suitable for dense matrix-vector arithmetic to matrix-product arithmetic. Key improvements that can be made to the algorithm when applied to matrix-product arithmetics will then be illustrated, resulting in increased precision and reduced computational effort. [mehr]

Vahid Sandoghdar - Nano-Quantum-Optics: from single photons and emitters to cooperative effects

MPSD Seminar
I plan to start this presentation with an overview of our work over the past decade on the efficient coupling of light and single quantum emitters, leading to the single-photon communication of two individual molecules at long distances [1]. In this context, we will also discuss new results on a high-efficiency triggered source of single photons [2] and coherent nonlinear optical phenomena, which let a single organic molecule act as an efficient switch for weak beams of light [3]. The long-term goal of these projects is to establish a platform for nano-quantum-optical operations and cooperative interactions in a mesoscopic system of photons and quantum emitters [4, 5]. In order to achieve this, we have developed novel microcavity [6] and chip-based nanoguide circuitry [7] for use at cryogenic conditions.References:[1] Y. Rezus, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 093601 (2012). [2] X-L. Chu, et al., Nature Photonics, 11, 58 (2017).[3] A. Maser, et al., Nature Photonics 10, 450 (2016).[4] S. Faez, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 213601 (2014). [5] H. Haakh, et al., Phys. Rev. A, 94, 053840 (2016).[6] D. Wang, et al., Phys. Rev. X, under review.[7] P. Türschmann, et al., submitted. [mehr]

Noejung Park - Ab initio study of ultrafast dynamics of spin-valley polarized states in TMDC with a particular focus on the role of phonon

MPSD Seminar
The valley degree of freedom and the possibility of spin-valley coupling of solid materials have attracted growing interest, and the relaxation dynamics of spin- and valley-polarized states has become an important focus of recent studies. In spin-orbit-coupled inversion-asymmetric two-dimensional materials, such as MoS2, it has been found that the spin randomization is characteristically faster than the time scales for inter- and intra-valley scatterings. In this talk, I present our recent study of the ultrafast non-collinear spin dynamics of the electron in a valley of monolayer MoS2 by using real-time propagation time-dependent density functional theory. We found that the spin precession is sharply selectively coupled only with the particular optical phonon that lifts the in-plane mirror symmetry. We suggest that the observed spin randomization can be attributed to this spin-phonon interaction. Further, our results imply that flipping of spins in a spin-orbit-coupled system can be achieved by the control over phonons. In a later part of the talk, I would also describe the feature of the computational package we have developed and have used for the spin-phonon dynamics, which is based on the plane-wave basis set and various types of pseudopotentials. [mehr]

Peter Deák - How to choose the correct hybrid functional for defect calculations

MPSD Seminar
The electronic and optical properties of a material critically depend on its defects, and understanding that requires substantial and accurate input from theory. Defect calculations in traditional semiconductors have relied on the local and semi/local approximations of density functional theory, which in wide band gap materials may lead to fatal errors. Since first-principle total energy methods beyond these approximations cannot yet be carried out with sufficient accuracy for the supercells needed in defect calculations, nowadays semi-empirical hybrid functionals are often applied instead. In my talk I will analyze the performance of the HSE06 screened hybrid functional on defects in Group-IV semiconductors and in TiO2, and show that its success is the result of error compensation between semi-local and non-local exchange, resulting in a proper derivative discontinuity (reproduction of the band gap) and a total energy which is a linear function of the fractional occupation numbers (removing most of the electron self-interaction). As it is well known, however, HSE06 does not work equally well for all materials. On the example of Ga2O3, I will show that tuning both the mixing and the screening parameter of HSE for the given material allows to ensure the same error compensation. Unless the electronic screening is strongly direction- or orbital-dependent (as in ZnO), the optimized HSE hybrid is nearly self-interaction free and provides a band structure on par with GW. Since the total energy can also be calculated, the real equilibrium structure of a defect can be found and the levels are in good agreement with experimental observations. [mehr]

Sven Ahrens - Relativistic quantum dynamics and the electron spin in standing light waves

MPSD Seminar
Strong laser beams allow for the coherent control of electrons, as for example electron diffraction in standing light waves [1]. In my talk I will discuss the possible manipulation of the electron spin in X-ray diffraction, in which the interacting standing wave of light can be formed from intensive and coherent X-ray beams from free-electron lasers [2]. The quantum dynamics of this process is theoretically modeled by inserting a plane wave ansatz for the electro-magnetic field and the electron wave function into the Dirac equation [3]. Based on this relativistic quantum description and substantiated by numeric and analytic solutions I will talk about the necessary kinematic conditions for generating spin effects in light-matter interaction. To the end I will present spin dynamics in circularly polarized laser fields [4,5] and discuss how circular polarization can be used for generating spin-dependent diffraction and spin polarization [6]. [1] D. L. Freimund, K. Aflatooni, H. Batelaan, Nature 413, 142 (2001). [2] S. Ahrens, H. Bauke, C. H. Keitel, and C. Müller, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 043601 (2012). [3] S. Ahrens, H. Bauke, C. H. Keitel, and C. Müller, Phys. Rev. A 88, 012115 (2013). [4] H. Bauke, S. Ahrens, C. H Keitel, R. Grobe, New J. Phys. 16, 103028 (2014). [5] H. Bauke, S. Ahrens, R. Grobe Phys. Rev. A 90, 052101 (2014). [6] S. Ahrens, arXiv:1604.06201 [quant-ph] (2016). [mehr]

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]

Jorge Jover - Open quantum systems: a geometric description

MPSD Seminar
In this talk, I will present some of the results in my PhD dissertation, whose main topic is the geometric description of open quantum systems. Differential geometry allows for an intrinsic formulation of mathematical models, thus achieving a better characterisation of their properties. I will analyse from a geometric perspective the manifold of pure and mixed states of quantum systems and its properties, such as its stratification in terms of the rank of states [1]. The algebraic properties of observables allow to define a Poisson and a symmetric tensor fields on the manifold, which are necessary in order to describe features such as dissipation and Markovian dynamics in an intrinsic way. Applications to Molecular Dynamics, in particular the Hamiltonian description of the Ehrenfest model, will also be discussed [2,3]. [1] Grabowski, Kus, Marmo. Symmetries, group actions and entanglement. Open Syst. Inf. Dyn. 13, 343–362 (2006) [2] Alonso et al. Statistics and Nosé formalism for Ehrenfest dynamics. J. Phys. A Math. Theor. 44 395004 (2011) [3] Alonso et al. Ehrenfest dynamics is purity non-preserving: a necessary ingredient for decoherence. J. Chem. Phys. 137 54106 (2012) [mehr]

Dante Kennes - Transient superconductivity from electronic squeezing of optically pumped phonons

MPSD Seminar
Advances in light sources and time resolved spectroscopy have made it possible to excite specific atomic vibrations in solids and to observe the resulting changes in electronic properties but the mechanism by which phonon excitation causes qualitative changes in electronic properties, has remained unclear. Here we show that the dominant symmetry-allowed coupling between electron density and dipole active modes implies an electron density-dependent squeezing of the phonon state which provides an attractive contribution to the electron-electron interaction, independent of the sign of the bare electron-phonon coupling and with a magnitude proportional to the degree of laser-induced phonon excitation. Reasonable excitation amplitudes lead to non-negligible attractive interactions that may cause significant transient changes in electronic properties including superconductivity. The mechanism is generically applicable to a wide range of systems, offering a promising route to manipulating and controlling electronic phase behavior in novel materials. [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]

Yang Peng - Boundary Green functions of topological insulators and Superconductors

MPSD Seminar
Topological insulators and superconductors are characterized by their gapless boundary modes. In this talk, we develop a recursive approach to the boundary Green function which encodes this nontrivial boundary physics. Our approach describes the various topologically trivial and nontrivial phases as fixed points of a recursion and provides direct access to the phase diagram, the localization properties of the edge modes, as well as topological indices. We illustrate our approach in the context of various familiar models such as the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, the Kitaev chain, and a model for a Chern insulator. We also show that the method provides an intuitive approach to understand recently introduced topological phases which exhibit gapless corner states. Ref: Yang Peng, Yimu Bao, Felix von Oppen, arXiv:1704.05862 (2017) [mehr]

Michael Lubasch - Density Functional and Tensor Network Theory

MPSD Seminar
In my talk I will discuss this question: How can density functional and tensor network theory be combined in such a way that they benefit from each other. In particular I will present our publication [1] in which we developed a systematic procedure for the approximation of density functionals in density functional theory that consists of two parts. In the first part, for the efficient approximation of a general density functional, we introduced an efficient ansatz whose non-locality can be increased systematically. In the second part, we presented a fitting strategy that is based on systematically increasing a reasonably chosen set of training densities. I will present our results from reference [1] for strongly correlated fermions on a one-dimensional lattice. In this context we focused on the exchange-correlation energy and demonstrated how an efficient approximation can be found that includes and systematically improves beyond the local density approximation. Remarkably, we could show this systematic improvement for target densities that are quite different from the training densities. [1] M. Lubasch, J. I. Fuks, H. Appel, A. Rubio, J. I. Cirac, and M.-C. Banuls, New Journal of Physics 18, 083039 (2016)." [mehr]

Philipp Strasberg - Strong coupling thermodynamics and Markovian embedding strategies

Whenever a small-scale system is weakly coupled to macroscopic and Markovian reservoirs, it is possible to establish a consistent thermodynamic framework -- even for systems far away from equilibrium and even at the level of single, fluctuating trajectories. But outside the Markovian and weak coupling regime already the definition of basic quantities such as internal energy or heat becomes problematic. After reviewing the phenomenology of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, I will discuss a technique which allows to map a strongly coupled, non-Markovian system to a weakly coupled, Markovian one by appropriately including environmental degrees of freedom in the description of the system. Thus, by redefining the system-environment partition, it is possible to carry over a consistent thermodynamic framework to the strong coupling situation. [mehr]

Ming Lei - Capping the Ends: Structure and Function of Telomere Proteins

MPSD Seminar
Telomeres, the natural ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes, are specialized protein-DNA complexes that play essential roles in cell viability and genome integrity. The long-term goal of my research is to understand how telomeres protect chromosome ends and mediate their replication by telomerase. A six-protein complex, called shelterin, associates with telomeres and protects the ends of human chromosomes. A major gap in our knowledge of the shelterin complex is how its protein components organize at telomeres. I will present our recent studies that reveal the molecular architecture and functional significance of the shelterin complex. [mehr]

Lukas Müchler - Exploring topological phenomena in Molecules

MPSD Seminar
The use of topological methods has revolutionized the field of condensed matter physics both theoretically and experimentally. Many new exotic states of matter with unremovable surface states that can carry dissipationless currents have been predicted and quickly been verified experimentally. Moreover, topological techniques that characterize periodic Hamiltonians according to their spatial and non-spatial symmetries have lead to an almost complete classification of all possible non-magnetic states of matter that can be realized in crystals. [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

Michael Schüler: Nonequilibrium topological states traced by transient spectroscopies

MPSD Seminar
Chern insulators exhibit fascinating properties which originate from the topologically nontrivial state characterized by the Chern number. How these properties are affected and manifest in the presence time-dependent perturbations is still a sparsely explored field of research. This applies,in particular, to quantum quenches between topologically distinct phases. Identifying robust measures of topology which are applicable in nonequilibrium scenarios — ideally also for correlated materials or dissipative systems — is thus a nontrivial task. [mehr]

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

MPSD Seminar

Daniele Fausti - Optical control and quasiparticle witnessing in strongly correlated electron systems

MPSD Seminar
The prospect of “forcing” the formation of quantum coherent states in matter, by means of pulsed electromagnetic fields, discloses a new regime of physics where thermodynamic limits can be bridged and quantum effects can, in principle, appear at ambient temperatures. In this presentation I will introduce the field of optical control of correlated electron systems. I will focus on the possibility of coherently driving low-lying excitations of quantum many body systems making light-based control of quantum phases in real materials feasible. I will review the recent results in archetypal strongly correlated cuprate superconductors and introduce our new approach to go beyond mean photon number observables. I will show that quantum features of light can provide a richer statistical information than standard linear and non-linear optical spectroscopies. This will potentially uncover with unprecedented detail the evolution and properties of light-induced transient states of matter.ReferencesScience 331 (6014), 189 (2011)Nature Comm. 6, 10249 (2015)Nature Comm. 5, 5112 (2014)New J. Phys. 16 043004 (2014)Nature materials 12 (10), 882-886(2013) [mehr]

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

MPSD Seminar

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

MPSD Seminar

Eric Heller - Graphene Spectroscopy and Ultrafast Pump-Probe Experiments and Theory

MPSD Seminar
Graphene is a key reduced dimensionality solid with many promising applications. Its spectroscopy is vital to understanding the quantum physics of graphene and to evaluate some of the potential uses of graphene. We have found that new and very different interpretations of graphene spectroscopy and ultrafast pump-probe experiments are required. This will be explained. They are very informative about the role of phonon assisted processes in solids and the role of the electronic transition matrix elements. [mehr]
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]

Emanuele Dalla Torre - From Floquet engineering to prethermalization of peridically driven systems

MPSD Seminar

Polariton photophysics and photochemistry: theoretical perspectives

CFEL Theory Seminar
Organic molecules interact strongly with confined electromagnetic fields in plasmonicarrays or optical microcavities owing to their bright transition dipole moments. Thisinteraction gives rise to molecular polaritons, hybrid light-matter quasiparticles.Molecular polaritonics opens new room-temperature opportunities for the nontrivialcontrol of energy transport in the nano and mesoscales and modification of physicochemicalproperties of molecular assemblies. In this talk, I’ll showcase some of theseopportunities that we have been theoretically exploring in the past few years within thecontext of physical chemistry. I’ll start by briefly mentioning our work on topologicallynontrivial phases in excitonic and polaritonic systems of organic dye molecules [1,2].Next, I will discuss recent work on how polaritons can enhance singlet-fissionprocesses [3] or how excitation energy can be transferred across mesoscopicdistances of hundreds of nanometers to micron lengthscales [4]. If time permits, I’llconclude by explaining what we can learn about molecular polaritons using twodimensionalspectroscopy [5,6].[1] J. Yuen-Zhou et al., Nature Mater. 13, 1026 (2014).[2] J. Yuen-Zhou et al., Plexcitons: Dirac points andtopological modes, Nat. Commun. 7, 11783 (2016).[3] L. A. Martínez-Martínez, et al., Polariton-assistedsinglet fission in acene aggregates, under review in J.Phys. Chem. Lett., arXiV:1711.11264.[4] M. Du et al., Polariton-assisted remote energy transfer(PARET), under review in Chem. Sci., arXiv:1711.11576.[5] B. Xiang et al., Revealing hidden vibration polaritoninteractions by 2D IR spectroscopy, under review in Proc.Nat. Acad. Sci., arXiv:1711.11222.[6] R. F. Ribeiro et al., Theory for nonlinear spectroscopyof vibrational polaritons, submitted to J. Phys. Chem.Lett., arXiv:1711.11576. [mehr]

Numerically exact full counting statistics of the Anderson impurity model

MPSD Seminar
The full characterization of charge transfer processes in molecular junctions requires techniques for evaluating not only the first and second moments of charge currents, but also higher-order statistical cumulants of the charge transfer process. The complete set of cumulants gives access to the full counting statistics (FCS) through the so-called generating function [1]. [mehr]

Resonant Thermalization of periodically driven strongly correlated electrons

MPSD Seminar

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]

Non-equilibrium control of the effective free energy landscape in a frustrated magnet

MPSD Seminar
Geometrically frustrated magnets often possess accidentally degenerate ground states at zero temperature. At low temperature, thermal fluctuations lift the accidental degeneracy and tend to stabilize ground states with maximal entropy. This phenomenon, known as “order by disorder”, underlines the fluctuation contribution to the free energy landscape in frustrated magnets.In this talk, I show that one can control such free energy landscape in a non-equilibrium setting. In a frustrated magnet with precessional dynamics, the system’s slow drift motion within the degenerate ground state manifold is governed by the fast modes out of the manifold. Exciting these fast modes generates a tuneable effective free energy landscape with minima located at thermodynamically unstable portions of the ground state manifold. I demonstrate this phenomenon on pyrochlore XY antiferromagnet, where a magnetic field pulse is sufficient for controlling the effective free energy landscape at nonequilibrium. [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]
High harmonic generation (HHG) from crystalline solids has become a playground in ultrafast phenomena. In contrast to noble gases, crystalline solids have rich physical properties, e.g. anharmonic energy dispersion, anisotropy depending on crystalline axis, strong electron-hole correlation, and so on. While the three-step model for HHG and its generalizations are successfully applicable to several situations, a deviation from the theoretical prediction is one of the most interesting physics in this field. To understand such deviations in solid-state HHG experiments, we need to go beyond the three-step model or along different directions. I will mainly talk about our recent trials to understand solid-state HHG, electron-hole attraction inclusion based on Hartree-Fock theory for 1D model crystal, and an ab-initio approach based on density-functional theory for 3D bulk solid comparing with experiments. [mehr]

Relativistic ultra-intense laser-plasma physics: from classical to QED regimes

MPSD Seminar
Ultra-intense lasers deliver unprecedented energy densities within microscopic volumes and shortest time spans, as exemplified by last year’s Physics Nobel Prize. Today, these lasers facilitate many compact technical applications such as particle accelerators and sources of intense electromagnetic radiation. And the next development stages promise significant technical advancements as well as deep insights into fundamental science ranging from nonlinear quantum field theory to studying the complex quantum vacuum itself. [mehr]

Transient Chirality in Chemistry and Biology: Capturing the Structural Evolution of Molecules in Solution

Most biological functions and many chemical processes are driven by chiral nanoscale molecular machines in solution, whose structures evolve on multiple time and length scales: from the ultrafast rotations of photo-driven synthetic molecular motors to the global conformational changes of proteins on the microsecond time scale. Yet capturing the associated conformational transitions in real-time continues to be a formidable experimental challenge, as prominent established methods come with their own limitations: solution nuclear magnetic resonance is limited to millisecond real-time resolution, whilst solution X-Ray scattering requires large-scale X-Ray facilities. A promising laboratory-based alternative is circular dichroism (CD), the absorption difference of left- and right-handed circularly polarized light, which is sensitive to the chiral geometrical arrangement of light-absorbing chemical groups within a molecular system. Steady-state CD is already a well-established tool in the far and middle ultraviolet (UV) < 300 nm, where equilibrium structures of proteins, DNA and functional chiral organic complexes are routinely characterized. However, pushing this technique into the time-domain has remained a challenge for over three decades, with only few isolated reports with sub-nanosecond resolution [1]. In this talk, I will present a technological breakthrough with the first time-resolved CD (TRCD) spectrometer that combines highly sensitive broadband UV-detection (250-370 nm) with pulsed laser sources and sub-picosecond time-resolution [2]. With this instrument, it is now possible to extract broadband CD spectra of photo-excited molecular states and follow their transient chirality changes with femtosecond resolution. This is opening a new avenue for capturing solution-phase structural dynamics in chemical and biological systems that I will illustrate with two examples: the coupling of electronic and structural dynamics in a chiral supramolecular metal-complex [3], and the application of a site-specific CD-label to track conformational changes of the peptide backbone [4]. On this basis I will present future developments that will establish TRCD as a complementary method for research in protein dynamics and chiral photochemistry, where the chirality of excited electronic states is the key design feature of chiral organic light-emitting diode materials and unidirectional molecular motors, for example. [mehr]

Coupled cluster theory with applications to conical intersections and quantum electrodynamics

MPSD Seminar
I will review different aspects of coupled cluster theory with focus on recent developments. In particular, similarity constrained coupled cluster theory1 for conical intersections and nonadiabatic dynamics, pump-probe simulations using time-dependent coupled cluster theory2 and coupled cluster theory for strong light-matter interactions (Cavity QED chemistry).3 [mehr]
We present a comprehensive theoretical framework for interaction of an ultrashort light pulse with a thin material based on the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) [1] . We introduce a microscopic description solving the Maxwell equations for the light electromagnetic fields and the time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation for the electron dynamics simultaneously in the time domain on a common real-space grid. This scheme can simulate the light-matter interaction in thin films irrespective of the film thickness and the light intensity. [mehr]

Controlling superconductivity with the electromagnetic vacuum

MPSD Seminar
Exploiting light-matter interactions to control collective quantum phenomena in solids is an ongoing broad research effort. In particular, it is known that superconductivity can be strongly modified using an external radiation [1-3]. In the absence of the latter, it is an interesting question whether superconductivity induced by conventional Cooper pairing may be also affected by coupling phonons to the electromagnetic field confined in a cavity with enhanced vacuum fluctuations [4,5]. [mehr]

Cavity Optomagnonics

MPSD Seminar
Optomagnonics studies the quantum-coherent coupling of light to collective magnetic excitations in solid state systems. The magnetic material hosting the magnetic excitations can be also used as an optical cavity if patterned appropriately. This not only enhances the magnon-photon coupling (making these systems promising for applications in quantum technologies) but also allows studying cavity-modified light-matter interaction in a novel platform. In my talk I will go over the basics of cavity optomagnonics and present results on recent theory developments in my group, including optomagnonics with magnetic textures, optical heralding of magnon Fock states, and antiferromagnetic cavity optomagnonics.
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