Ultrafast optical switching to a metallic state by photoinduced mott transition in a halogen-bridged nickel-chain compound

Inverse Design of Light Manipulating Structural Phase Transition in Solids

This Perspective focuses on recent advances in understanding ultrafast processes involved in photoinduced structural phase transitions and proposes a strategy for precise manipulation of such transitions. It has been demonstrated that photoexcited carriers occupying empty antibonding or bonding states generate atomic driving forces that lead to either stretching or shortening of associated bonds, which in turn induce collective and coherent motions of atoms and yield structural transitions. For instance, phase transitions in IrTe₂ and VO₂, and nonthermal melting in Si, can be explained by the occupation of specific local bonding or antibonding states during laser excitation. These cases reveal the electronic-orbital-selective nature of laser-induced structural transitions. Based on this understanding, we propose an inverse design protocol for achieving or preventing a target structural transition by controlling the related electron occupations with orbital-selective photoexcitation. Overall, this Perspective provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in dynamical structural control in solid materials.

Effects of Floquet Engineering on the Coherent Exciton Dynamics in Monolayer WS2

Coherent optical manipulation of electronic bandstructures via Floquet Engineering is a promising means to control quantum systems on an ultrafast time scale. However, the ultrafast switching on/off of the driving field comes with questions regarding the limits of the Floquet formalism (which is defined for an infinite periodic drive) through the switching process and to what extent the transient changes can be driven adiabatically. Experimentally addressing these questions has been difficult, in large part due to the absence of an established technique to measure coherent dynamics through the duration of the pulse. Here, using multidimensional coherent spectroscopy we explicitly excite, control, and probe a coherent superposition of excitons in the K and K' valleys in monolayer WS₂. With a circularly polarized, red-detuned pump pulse, the degeneracy of the K and K' excitons can be lifted, and the phase of the coherence rotated. We directly measure phase rotations greater than π during the 100 fs driving pulse and show that this can be described by a combination of the AC-Stark shift of excitons in one valley and the Bloch-Siegert shift of excitons in the opposite valley. Despite showing a smooth evolution of the phase that directly follows the intensity envelope of the nonresonant pump pulse, the process is not perfectly adiabatic. By measuring the magnitude of the macroscopic coherence as it evolves before, during, and after the nonresonant pump pulse we show that there is additional decoherence caused by power broadening in the presence of the nonresonant pump. This nonadiabaticity arises as a result of interactions with the otherwise adiabatic Floquet states and may be a problem for many applications, such as manipulating qubits in quantum information processing; however, these measurements also suggest ways such effects can be minimized or eliminated.

Quantum Monte Carlo Method in the Steady State

We present a numerically exact steady-state inchworm Monte Carlo method for nonequilibrium quantum impurity models. Rather than propagating an initial state to long times, the method is directly formulated in the steady state. This eliminates any need to traverse the transient dynamics and grants access to a much larger range of parameter regimes at vastly reduced computational costs. We benchmark the method on equilibrium Green's functions of quantum dots in the noninteracting limit and in the unitary limit of the Kondo regime. We then consider correlated materials described with dynamical mean field theory and driven away from equilibrium by a bias voltage. We show that the response of a correlated material to a bias voltage differs qualitatively from the splitting of the Kondo resonance observed in bias-driven quantum dots.

Spin, Charge, and η-Spin Separation in One-Dimensional Photodoped Mott Insulators

We show that effectively cold metastable states in one-dimensional photodoped Mott insulators described by the extended Hubbard model exhibit spin, charge, and η-spin separation. Their wave functions in the large on-site Coulomb interaction limit can be expressed as |Ψ⟩=|Ψ_{charge}⟩|Ψ_{spin}⟩|Ψ_{η-spin}⟩, which is analogous to the Ogata-Shiba states of the doped Hubbard model in equilibrium. Here, the η-spin represents the type of photo-generated pseudoparticles (doublon or holon). |Ψ_{charge}⟩ is determined by spinless free fermions, |Ψ_{spin}⟩ by the isotropic Heisenberg model in the squeezed spin space, and |Ψ_{η-spin}⟩ by the XXZ model in the squeezed η-spin space. In particular, the metastable η-pairing and charge-density-wave (CDW) states correspond to the gapless and gapful states of the XXZ model. The specific form of the wave function allows us to accurately determine the exponents of correlation functions. The form also suggests that the central charge of the η-pairing state is 3 and that of the CDW phase is 2, which we numerically confirm. Our study provides analytic and intuitive insights into the correlations between active degrees of freedom in photodoped strongly correlated systems.

Witnessing Nonequilibrium Entanglement Dynamics in a Strongly Correlated Fermionic Chain

Many-body entanglement in condensed matter systems can be diagnosed from equilibrium response functions through the use of entanglement witnesses and operator-specific quantum bounds. Here, we investigate the applicability of this approach for detecting entangled states in quantum systems driven out of equilibrium. We use a multipartite entanglement witness, the quantum Fisher information, to study the dynamics of a paradigmatic fermion chain undergoing a time-dependent change of the Coulomb interaction. Our results show that the quantum Fisher information is able to witness distinct signatures of multipartite entanglement both near and far from equilibrium that are robust against decoherence. We discuss implications of these findings for probing entanglement in light-driven quantum materials with time-resolved optical and x-ray scattering methods.

Ultrashort and metastable doping of the ZnO surface by photoexcited defects

Shallow donors in semiconductors are known to form impurity bands that induce metallic conduction at sufficient doping densities. The perhaps most direct analogy to such doping in optically excited semiconductors...

Thermally Induced Electron-Hole Dissociation Dynamics in Quasi-One-Dimensional Bromo-Bridged Palladium(III) Mott-Insulator [Pd(en)2Br](Suc-Cn)2·H2O (Cn-Y = dialkylsulfosuccinate; n = 5 and 6)

Current-voltage characteristics and dielectric properties were studied on bromo-bridged one-dimensional compounds, [Pd(en)2Br](Suc-C5)2·H2O, exhibiting mixed-valence and averaged valence (MV-AV) phase transition. In the AV phase, a clear nonlinear current-voltage characteristics was...

Interdigitated Pt-Br chains with π-stacking: an approach toward Robin-Day class I mixed valency in MX-chain complexes

The first interdigitated MX-type chain complex with infinite π-stacked arrays was synthesized. The synchronization between a Pt-Br⋯ chain and π-stacking periodicities led to the longest M-X-M distance (6.6978(15) Å) and nil or negligible intervalence charge transfer, which is essential to realize the Robin-Day class I mixed valence state in MX chains.

Mechanism of charge accumulation of poly(heptazine imide) gel

Photo-stimuli response in materials is a fascinating feature with many potential applications. A photoresponsive gel of poly(heptazine imide), PHI, termed PHIG, exhibits photochromism, photoconductivity, and photo-induced charge accumulation, and is generated using ionic liquids and PHI. Although there are several examples of ionic liquid gels that exhibit photochromism and photoconductivity, this is the first report of an ionic liquid gel that exhibits both these properties as well as charge accumulation. We conducted experimental and theoretical investigations to understand the mechanism of the photostimulus response of PHIG, especially charge accumulation. The proposed model explains both the mechanism of charge accumulation and dark photocatalysis by PHI and provides new concepts in the field of photofunctional materials.

Ultrafast generation and decay of a surface metal

Band bending at semiconductor surfaces induced by chemical doping or electric fields can create metallic surfaces with properties not found in the bulk, such as high electron mobility, magnetism or superconductivity. Optical generation of such metallic surfaces on ultrafast timescales would be appealing for high-speed electronics. Here, we demonstrate the ultrafast generation of a metal at the (10-10) surface of ZnO upon photoexcitation. Compared to hitherto known ultrafast photoinduced semiconductor-to-metal transitions that occur in the bulk of inorganic semiconductors, the metallization of the ZnO surface is launched by 3-4 orders of magnitude lower photon fluxes. Using time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we show that the phase transition is caused by photoinduced downward surface band bending due to photodepletion of donor-type deep surface defects. The discovered mechanism is in analogy to chemical doping of semiconductor surfaces and presents a general route for controlling surface-confined metallicity on ultrafast timescales.

An unusual Pd(III) oxidation state in the Pd-Cl chain complex with high thermal stability and electrical conductivity

The Pd(iii) oxidation state is unusual and unstable since it strongly tends to disproportionate. We synthesized the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) halogen-bridged Pd(iii)-Cl complex [Pd(dabdOH)2Cl]Cl2 (1-Cl; dabdOH = (2S,3S)-2,3-diaminobutane-1,4-diol) with multiple hydrogen bonds. From single-crystal X-ray diffraction, the bridging Cl- ions were located at the midpoint of the Pd-Cl-Pd moieties in the 1D chains, indicating that the Pd ions are in a Pd(iii) average valence (AV) state. Moreover, bright spots for the Pd(iii) dz2 orbitals in the upper Hubbard band above the Fermi level were observed every ∼5 Å using scanning tunnelling microscopy. These results clearly indicate that the Pd ions are in a Pd(iii) AV state in 1-Cl. In addition, 1-Cl has the highest thermal stability (470 K) among the Pd(iii) complexes reported and the highest electrical conductivity (0.6 S cm-1 at 300 K) among the 1D Pd-Cl chains reported so far.

Two-dimensional radical–cationic Mott insulator based on an electron donor containing neither a tetrathiafulvalene nor tetrathiapentalene skeleton

We have succeeded in developing a two-dimensional radical–cationic Mott insulator that does not contain a 1,3-dithiol-2-ylidene moiety.

Light-induced evaporative cooling of holes in the Hubbard model

An elusive goal in the field of driven quantum matter is the induction of long-range order. Here, we propose a mechanism based on light-induced evaporative cooling of holes in a correlated fermionic system. Since the entropy of a filled narrow band grows rapidly with hole doping, the isentropic transfer of holes from a doped Mott insulator to such a band results in a drop of temperature. Strongly correlated Fermi liquids and symmetry-broken states could thus be produced by dipolar excitations. Using nonequilibrium dynamical mean field theory, we show that suitably designed chirped pulses may realize this cooling effect. In particular, we demonstrate the emergence of antiferromagnetic order in a system which is initially in a weakly correlated state above the maximum Néel temperature. Our work suggests a general strategy for inducing strong correlation phenomena in periodically modulated atomic gases in optical lattices or light-driven materials.

Driven quantum many-body systems can host finite densities of quasiparticles with the potential to realise emergent behaviour that is distinct from the equilibrium state. Werner et al. propose a method to cool holes in a correlated system so that more exotic low-entropy phases can be reached.

Charge Density Wave Melting in One-Dimensional Wires with Femtosecond Subgap Excitation

Charge density waves (CDWs) are symmetry-broken ground states that commonly occur in low-dimensional metals due to strong electron-electron and/or electron-phonon coupling. The nonequilibrium carrier distribution established via photodoping with femtosecond laser pulses readily quenches these ground states and induces an ultrafast insulator-to-metal phase transition. To date, CDW melting has been mainly investigated in the single-photon regime with pump photon energies bigger than the gap size. The recent development of strong-field midinfrared sources now enables the investigation of CDW dynamics following subgap excitation. Here we excite prototypical one-dimensional indium wires with a CDW gap of ∼300  meV with midinfrared pulses at ℏω=190  meV with MV/cm field strength and probe the transient electronic structure with time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We find that the CDW gap is filled on a timescale short compared to our temporal resolution of 300 fs and that the band structure changes are completed within ∼1  ps. Supported by a minimal theoretical model we attribute our findings to multiphoton absorption across the CDW gap.

Photoinduced η Pairing in the Hubbard Model

By employing unbiased numerical methods, we show that pulse irradiation can induce unconventional superconductivity even in the Mott insulator of the Hubbard model. The superconductivity found here in the photoexcited state is due to the η-pairing mechanism, characterized by staggered pair-density-wave oscillations in the off-diagonal long-range correlation, and is absent in the ground-state phase diagram; i.e., it is induced neither by a change of the effective interaction of the Hubbard model nor by simple photocarrier doping. Because of the selection rule, we show that the nonlinear optical response is essential to increase the number of η pairs and thus enhance the superconducting correlation in the photoexcited state. Our finding demonstrates that nonequilibrium many-body dynamics is an alternative pathway to access a new exotic quantum state that is absent in the ground-state phase diagram, and also provides an alternative mechanism for enhancing superconductivity.

How a dc Electric Field Drives Mott Insulators Out of Equilibrium

Out of equilibrium phenomena are a major issue of modern physics. In particular, correlated materials such as Mott insulators experience fascinating long-lived exotic states under a strong electric field. Yet, the origin of their destabilization by the electric field is not elucidated. Here we present a comprehensive study of the electrical response of canonical Mott insulators GaM_{4}Q_{8} (M=V, Nb, Ta, Mo; Q=S, Se) in the context of a microscopic theory of electrical breakdown where in-gap states allow for a description in terms of a two-temperature model. Our results show how the nonlinearities and the resistive transition originate from a massive creation of hot electrons under an electric field. These results give new insights for the control of the long-lived states reached under an electric field in these systems which has recently open the way to new functionalities used in neuromorphic applications.

Correlation between Chemical and Physical Pressures on Charge Bistability in [Pd(en)2Br](Suc-Cn)2·H2O

Hydrostatic (physical) pressure effects on the electrical resistivity of a bromido-bridged palladium compound, [Pd(en)₂Br](Suc-C₅)₂·H₂O, were studied. The charge-density-wave to Mott-Hubbard phase transition temperature (T_PT) steadily increased with pressure. By a comparison of the effects of the chemical and physical pressures on T_PT, it was estimated that the chemical pressure by unit alkyl chain length, i.e., the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chains within the counterion, corresponded to ca. 1.3 kbar of the physical pressure.

Mott transition by an impulsive dielectric breakdown

The transition of a Mott insulator to metal, the Mott transition, can occur via carrier doping by elemental substitution, and by photoirradiation, as observed in transition-metal compounds and in organic materials. Here, we show that the application of a strong electric field can induce a Mott transition by a new pathway, namely through impulsive dielectric breakdown. Irradiation of a terahertz electric-field pulse on an ET-based compound, κ-(ET) ₂Cu[N(CN) ₂]Br (ET:bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene), collapses the original Mott gap of ∼30 meV with a ∼0.1 ps time constant after doublon-holon pair productions by quantum tunnelling processes, as indicated by the nonlinear increase of Drude-like low-energy spectral weights. Additionally, we demonstrate metallization using this method is faster than that by a femtosecond laser-pulse irradiation and that the transition dynamics are more electronic and coherent. Thus, strong terahertz-pulse irradiation is an effective approach to achieve a purely electronic Mott transition, enhancing the understanding of its quantum nature.

Ultrafast Photoinduced Electric-Polarization Switching in a Hydrogen-Bonded Ferroelectric Crystal

Croconic acid crystals show proton displacive-type ferroelectricity with a large spontaneous polarization reaching 20  μC/cm^{2}, which originates from the strong coupling of proton and π-electron degrees of freedom. Such a coupling makes us expect a large polarization change by photoirradiations. Optical-pump second-harmonic-generation-probe experiments reveal that a photoexcited croconic-acid crystal loses the ferroelectricity substantially with a maximum quantum efficiency of more than 30 molecules per one absorbed photon. Based on density functional calculations, we theoretically discuss possible pathways toward the formation of a one-dimensional domain with polarization inversion and its recovery process to the ground state by referring to the dynamics of experimentally obtained polarization changes.

Identifying the Collective Length in VO2 Metal-Insulator Transitions

The "collective length" in VO₂ metal-insulator transitions is identified by controlling nanoscale dopant distribution in thin films. The crossover from the local transition to the collective transition is observed, which originates from the increased instability of the metal-insulator domain boundary. This instability renders the transition collective within the "collective length", which will enable the design of collective electronic devices.

Slowdown of the Electronic Relaxation Close to the Mott Transition

We investigate the time-dependent reformation of the quasiparticle peak in a correlated metal near the Mott transition, after the system is quenched into a hot electron state and equilibrates with an environment which is colder than the Fermi-liquid crossover temperature. Close to the transition, we identify a purely electronic bottleneck time scale, which depends on the spectral weight around the Fermi energy in the bad metallic phase in a nonlinear way. This time scale can be orders of magnitude larger than the bare and renormalized electronic hopping time, so that a separation of electronic and lattice time scales may break down. The results are obtained using nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory and a slave-rotor representation of the Anderson impurity model.

Breakdown of electron-pairs in the presence of an electric field of a superconducting ring

The quantum dynamics of quasi-one-dimensional ring with varying electron filling factors is investigated in the presence of an external electric field. The system is modeled within a Hubbard Hamiltonian with attractive Coulomb correlation, which results in a superconducting ground state when away from half-filling. The electric field is induced by applying time-dependent Aharonov-Bohm flux in the perpendicular direction. To explore the non-equilibrium phenomena arising from the field, we adopt exact diagonalization and the Crank-Nicolson numerical method. With an increase in electric field strength, the electron pairs, a signature of the superconducting phase, start breaking and the system enters into a metallic phase. However, the strength of the electric field for this quantum phase transition depends on the electronic correlation. This phenomenon has been confirmed by flux-quantization of time-dependent current and pair correlation functions.

Ultra-fast photo-carrier relaxation in Mott insulators with short-range spin correlations

Ultra-fast spectroscopy can reveal the interplay of charges with low energy degrees of freedom, which underlies the rich physics of correlated materials. As a potential glue for superconductivity, spin fluctuations in Mott insulators are of particular interest. A theoretical description of the coupled spin and charge degrees of freedom is challenging, because magnetic order is often only short-lived and short-ranged. In this work we theoretically investigate how the spin-charge interactions influence the relaxation of a two-dimensional Mott-Hubbard insulator after photo-excitation. We use a nonequilibrium variant of the dynamical cluster approximation, which, in contrast to single-site dynamical mean-field theory, captures the effect of short-range correlations. The relaxation time is found to scale with the strength of the nearest-neighbor spin correlations, and can be 10–20 fs in the cuprates. Increasing the temperature or excitation density decreases the spin correlations and thus implies longer relaxation times. This may help to distinguish the effect of spin-fluctuations on the charge relaxation from the influence of other bosonic modes in the solid.

Ultrafast electronic state conversion at room temperature utilizing hidden state in cuprate ladder system

Photo-control of material properties on femto- (10(-15)) and pico- (10(-12)) second timescales at room temperature has been a long-sought goal of materials science. Here we demonstrate a unique ultrafast conversion between the metallic and insulating state and the emergence of a hidden insulating state by tuning the carrier coherence in a wide temperature range in the two-leg ladder superconductor Sr(14-x)Ca(x)Cu24O41 through femtosecond time-resolved reflection spectroscopy. We also propose a theoretical scenario that can explain the experimental results. The calculations indicate that the holes injected by the ultrashort light reduce the coherence among the inherent hole pairs and result in suppression of conductivity, which is opposite to the conventional photocarrier-doping mechanism. By using trains of ultrashort laser pulses, we successively tune the carrier coherence to within 1 picosecond. Control of hole-pair coherence is shown to be a realistic strategy for tuning the electronic state on ultrafast timescales at room temperature.

Charge-bistable Pd(iii)/Pd(ii,iv) coordination polymers: phase transitions and their applications to optical properties

This paper reviews the recent progress in charge-bistable Pd(iii)/Pd(ii,iv) coordination polymers (MX chains). The temperature-, pressure- and photo-induced phase transitions have been demonstrated, proposing MX chains as a material for optical switching devices.

First-order dynamical phase transitions

Recently, dynamical phase transitions have been identified based on the nonanalytic behavior of the Loschmidt echo in the thermodynamic limit [Heyl et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)]. By introducing conditional probability amplitudes, we show how dynamical phase transitions can be further classified, both mathematically, and potentially in experiment. This leads to the definition of first-order dynamical phase transitions. Furthermore, we develop a generalized Keldysh formalism which allows us to use nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory to study the Loschmidt echo and dynamical phase transitions in high-dimensional, nonintegrable models. We find dynamical phase transitions of first order in the Falicov-Kimball model and in the Hubbard model.

Excitation-photon-energy selectivity of photoconversions in halogen-bridged Pd-chain compounds: Mott insulator to metal or charge-density-wave state

Ultrafast photoinduced transitions of a one-dimensional Mott insulator into two distinct electronic phases, metal and charge-density-wave (CDW) state, were achieved in a bromine-bridged Pd-chain compound [Pd(en)2Br](C5-Y)2H2O (en=ethylenediamine and C5-Y=dialkylsulfosuccinate), by selecting the photon energy of a femtosecond excitation pulse. For the resonant excitation of the Mott-gap transition, excitonic states are generated and converted to one-dimensional CDW domains. For the higher-energy excitation, free electron and hole carriers are produced, giving rise to a transition of the Mott insulator to a metal. Such selectivity in photoconversions by the choice of initial photoexcited states opens a new possibility for the developments of advanced optical switching and memory functions.

Green's functions from real-time bold-line Monte Carlo calculations: spectral properties of the nonequilibrium Anderson impurity model

The nonequilibrium spectral properties of the Anderson impurity model with a chemical potential bias are investigated within a numerically exact real-time quantum Monte Carlo formalism. The two-time correlation function is computed in a form suitable for nonequilibrium dynamical mean field calculations. Additionally, the evolution of the model's spectral properties are simulated in an alternative representation, defined by a hypothetical but experimentally realizable weakly coupled auxiliary lead. The voltage splitting of the Kondo peak is confirmed and the dynamics of its formation after a coupling or gate quench are studied. This representation is shown to contain additional information about the dot's population dynamics. Further, we show that the voltage-dependent differential conductance gives a reasonable qualitative estimate of the equilibrium spectral function, but significant qualitative differences are found including incorrect trends and spurious temperature dependent effects.

Optical properties of a vibrationally modulated solid state Mott insulator

Optical pulses at THz and mid-infrared frequencies tuned to specific vibrational resonances modulate the lattice along chosen normal mode coordinates. In this way, solids can be switched between competing electronic phases and new states are created. Here, we use vibrational modulation to make electronic interactions (Hubbard-U) in Mott-insulator time dependent. Mid-infrared optical pulses excite localized molecular vibrations in ET-F2TCNQ, a prototypical one-dimensional Mott-insulator. A broadband ultrafast probe interrogates the resulting optical spectrum between THz and visible frequencies. A red-shifted charge-transfer resonance is observed, consistent with a time-averaged reduction of the electronic correlation strength U. Secondly, a sideband manifold inside of the Mott-gap appears, resulting from a periodically modulated U. The response is compared to computations based on a quantum-modulated dynamic Hubbard model. Heuristic fitting suggests asymmetric holon-doublon coupling to the molecules and that electron double-occupancies strongly squeeze the vibrational mode.

Bromide-bridged palladium(iii) chain complexes showing charge bistability near room temperature

We synthesized and characterized bromide-bridged Pd(iii) chain complexes, [Pd(en)₂Br](MalC_n–Y)₂·H₂O (en = ethylenediamine; MalC_n–Y = dialkyl sulfomalonate; n: the number of carbon atoms) (n = 7 and 12), which were in averaged valence states at room temperature.

Measurement of a photoinduced transition from a nonordered phase to a transient ordered phase in the organic quantum-paraelectric compound dimethyltetrathiafulvalene-dibromodichloro-p-benzoquinone using femtosecond laser irradiation

We report a new photoinduced transition from a nonordered phase to a transient ordered phase with symmetry breaking in an organic charge-transfer compound, dimethyltetrathiafulvalene (DMTTF)-dibromodichloro-p-benzoquinone (2,6QBr(2)Cl(2)), which is a neutral compound located near the neutral-ionic phase boundary and shows quantum paraelectricity at low temperatures. By an irradiation of a femtosecond laser pulse, an ionic domain consisting of ~40 molecules is introduced into the neutral lattice per photon, giving rise to coherent molecular oscillations with fractional charge modulations over ~400 molecules. This response is due to the recovery of ferroelectric nature from the quantum paraelectricity by a photoinjection of an ionic domain with a large dipole moment.

Photoinduced states in a Mott insulator

We investigate the properties of the metallic state obtained by photodoping carriers into a Mott insulator. In a strongly interacting system, these carriers have a long lifetime, so that they can dissipate their kinetic energy to a phonon bath. In the relaxed state, the scattering rate saturates at a nonzero temperature-independent value, and the momentum-resolved spectral function features broad bands which differ from the well-defined quasiparticle bands of a chemically doped system. Our results indicate that a photodoped Mott insulator behaves as a bad metal, in which strong scattering between doublons and holes inhibits Fermi-liquid behavior down to low temperature.

Nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory: an auxiliary quantum master equation approach

We introduce a versatile method to compute electronic steady-state properties of strongly correlated extended quantum systems out of equilibrium. The approach is based on dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), in which the original system is mapped onto an auxiliary nonequilibrium impurity problem imbedded in a Markovian environment. The steady-state Green's function of the auxiliary system is solved by full diagonalization of the corresponding Lindblad equation. The approach can be regarded as the nontrivial extension of the exact-diagonalization-based DMFT to the nonequilibrium case. As a first application, we consider an interacting Hubbard layer attached to two metallic leads and present results for the steady-state current and the nonequilibrium density of states.

Enhanced charge order in a photoexcited one-dimensional strongly correlated system

We present a compelling response of a low-dimensional strongly correlated system to an external perturbation. Using the time-dependent Lanczos method we investigate a nonequilibrium evolution of the half-filled one-dimensional extended Hubbard model, driven by a transient laser pulse. When the system is close to the phase boundary, by tuning the laser frequency and strength, a sustainable charge order enhancement is found that is absent in the Mott insulating phase. We analyze the conditions and investigate possible mechanisms of emerging charge order enhancement. Feasible experimental realizations are proposed.

Ultrafast insulator–metal phase transition in vanadium dioxide studied using optical pump–terahertz probe spectroscopy

We studied the ultrafast dynamic behavior of the photoinduced insulator–metal phase transition in VO2 thin film using optical pump–terahertz probe spectroscopy with different excitation fluences and at different temperatures. We observed two processes in the insulator–metal phase transition in VO2: a fast process and a slow process. The fast process is a nonthermal process, which is ascribed to the nucleation of the metal phase, while the slow process is strongly affected by temperature and is ascribed to the thermally driven growth and coalescence of metal domains in VO2. The transient complex conductivity spectra at different delay times are also investigated.

Optical modulation of effective on-site coulomb energy for the Mott transition in an organic dimer insulator

We report an optical modulation of the effective on-site Coulomb energy U on a dimer (U_{dimer}) for achieving the Mott insulator-to-metal transition in kappa-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}Cu[N(CN)_{2}]Br, as investigated by pump-probe spectroscopy. A reduction of U_{dimer} is optically induced by molecule displacement in the dimer under intradimer excitation. The mechanism of this metallization differs greatly from the photodoping-type mechanism reported previously. In contrast, a faster transition via the photodoping mechanism is detected for interdimer excitation. A metallic-domain-wall oscillation originating from the modulation of U_{dimer} was also observed near the critical end point of the Mott transition line.

Nonequilibrium steady state of photoexcited correlated electrons in the presence of dissipation

We present a framework to determine nonequilibrium steady states in strongly correlated electron systems in the presence of dissipation. This is demonstrated for a correlated electron (Falicov-Kimball) model attached to a heat bath and irradiated by an intense pump light, for which an exact solution is obtained with the Floquet method combined with the nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory. On top of a Drude-like peak indicative of photometallization as observed in recent pump-probe experiments, new nonequilibrium phenomena are predicted to emerge, where the optical conductivity exhibits dip and kink structures around the frequency of the pump light, a midgap absorption arising from photoinduced Floquet subbands, and a negative attenuation (gain) due to a population inversion.

Enhanced photosusceptibility near Tc for the light-induced insulator-to-metal phase transition in vanadium dioxide

We use optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy to investigate the near-threshold behavior of the photoinduced insulator-to-metal (IM) transition in vanadium dioxide thin films. Upon approaching Tc a reduction in the fluence required to drive the IM transition is observed, consistent with a softening of the insulating state due to an increasing metallic volume fraction (below the percolation limit). This phase coexistence facilitates the growth of a homogeneous metallic conducting phase following superheating via photoexcitation. A simple dynamic model using Bruggeman effective medium theory describes the observed initial condition sensitivity.