Magneto-optical Spectroscopy with RAMBO: A Table-Top 30 T Magnet

TL;DR

This paper reviews the use of RAMBO, a novel 30 T mini-coil magnet system with optical access, enabling advanced ultrafast and nonlinear optical experiments in high magnetic fields to study quasiparticle dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces RAMBO, a compact high-field magnet system that allows for cutting-edge optical spectroscopy experiments previously hindered by bulkiness and limited access.

Findings

Demonstrated magneto-optical studies of excitons, plasmons, magnons, and phonons in high magnetic fields.

Enabled femtosecond optical pulse experiments, including time-domain terahertz spectroscopy.

Provided new insights into quasiparticle states and dynamics in strong magnetic fields.

Abstract

Optically probing materials in high magnetic fields can provide enlightening insight into field-modified electronic states and phases, while optically driving materials in high magnetic fields can induce novel nonequilibrium many-body dynamics of spin and charge carriers. While there are high-field magnets compatible with standard optical spectroscopy methods, they are generally bulky and have limited optical access, which prohibit performing state-of-the-art ultrafast and/or nonlinear optical experiments. The Rice Advanced Magnet with Broadband Optics (RAMBO), a unique 30-T pulsed mini-coil magnet system with direct optical access, has enabled previously challenging experiments using femtosecond optical pulses, including time-domain terahertz spectroscopy, in cutting-edge materials placed in strong magnetic fields. Here, we review recent experimental advances made possible by the first-generation RAMBO setup. After summarizing technological aspects of combining optical spectroscopic techniques with the mini-coil magnet, we describe results of magneto-optical studies of a wide variety of materials, providing new insight into the states and dynamics of four types of quasiparticles in solids - excitons, plasmons, magnons, and phonons - in high magnetic fields.