Cooperative photoinduced metastable phase control in strained manganite films

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jingdi, Tan, Xuelian, Liu, Mengkun, Teitelbaum, Samuel W, Post, Kirk W, Feng, Jin, Nelson, Keith A, Basov, D N, Wu, Wenbin, Averitt, Richard D
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 01.12.2015
• Subjects: Active control; Condensed matter physics; Cooperative control; Dynamic control; Electromagnetic fields; Excitation; Magnetic permeability; Metastable phases; Metastable state; Phase control; Photon density; Physics - Materials Science; Physics - Optics; Physics - Strongly Correlated Electrons
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1512.00436

A major challenge in condensed matter physics is active control of quantum phases. Dynamic control with pulsed electromagnetic fields can overcome energetic barriers enabling access to transient or metastable states that are not thermally accessible. Here we demonstrate strain-engineered tuning of La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 into an emergent charge-ordered insulating phase with extreme photo-susceptibility where even a single optical pulse can initiate a transition to a long-lived metastable hidden metallic phase. Comprehensive single-shot pulsed excitation measurements demonstrate that the transition is cooperative and ultrafast, requiring a critical absorbed photon density to activate local charge excitations that mediate magnetic-lattice coupling that, in turn, stabilize the metallic phase. These results reveal that strain engineering can tune emergent functionality towards proximal macroscopic states to enable dynamic ultrafast optical phase switching and control.