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An international team of researchers has demonstrated a new mechanism by which distinct vibrations in a crystal – normally decoupled by symmetry – can be dynamically linked. Using a light scattering technique, the team showed that in a special class of crystals with a built-in sense of rotation, known as ferroaxial materials, collective fluctuations of this ordered state act as a dynamical bridge between otherwise independent vibrational modes. This unconventional channel, called resonant chiral dressing, has also been fully explained theoretically. The findings, published in Nature Physics, open new routes to detect and control exotic quantum phases with light.

Dongsung Choi, a postdoctoral researcher in the Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics group led by Andrea Cavalleri, has been awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship. He joined the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in September 2024 and will continue his work in the institute as a humboldt fellow.

Two postdoctoral researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have been awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships. Dasom Kim, in the Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics group led by Andrea Cavalleri, and Na Wu, in the Theory Department led by Angel Rubio, will use the fellowships to explore how engineered electromagnetic cavities can be used to control quantum materials — one from the experimental side, the other from theory. Together, their projects illustrate the breadth of MPSD’s work on light–matter interactions and the coherent control of condensed matter.