Photo-induced phase-transitions in complex solids

TL;DR

This review discusses photo-induced phase-transitions in complex quantum materials, highlighting their mechanisms, experimental observations, and theoretical approaches to understand ultrafast control of material properties.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress in understanding the mechanisms and theoretical modeling of PIPTs in complex solids.

Findings

Identification of key mechanisms driving PIPTs

Overview of theoretical methods for modeling PIPTs

Examples of recent experimental and theoretical progress

Abstract

Photo-induced phase-transitions (PIPTs) driven by highly cooperative interactions are of fundamental interest as they offer a way to tune and control material properties on ultrafast timescales. Due to strong correlations and interactions, complex quantum materials host several fascinating PIPTs such as light-induced charge density waves and ferroelectricity and have become a desirable setting for studying these PIPTs. A central issue in this field is the proper understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving the PIPTs. As these PIPTs are highly nonlinear processes and often involve multiple time and length scales, different theoretical approaches are often needed to understand the underlying mechanisms. In this review, we present a brief overview of PIPTs realized in complex materials, followed by a discussion of the available theoretical methods with selected examples of recent progress in understanding of the nonequilibrium pathways of PIPTs.