Light-manipulation of quantum matter in an ultrafast fashion

我们的现代和即将到来的技术依赖于固体的量子特性，例如巨磁阻或超导性，它们分别是存储设备和MRI机器操作的基础。在这方面，物质的新性质和相可能出现在强电子相关性和低维性协同作用的材料中。这些系统通常被称为量子材料。尽管这些新的涌现相/性质使量子材料成为开发未来技术的有趣平台，但这些相同的相/性质往往是“交织在一起的”，即难以独立分离和控制。到目前为止，量子材料的这种相互交织的特性限制了它们在我们日常生活中的适用性，广大的科学界正在疯狂地寻找完全控制量子材料的新工具。 在这个研究项目中，我将与我在INRS-EMT的学生和博士后团队一起开发用于控制量子材料基本特性的新工具。我们将研究和优化光-物质相互作用，作为一个强大的外部“旋钮”来精细控制固体的宏观性质，最终目标是在物质的超快控制方面提供新的技术突破。这将通过时间和动量分辨光谱学来探索高强度（0.1-1 MV/cm）长波长（>4 µm）超快光激发如何重塑量子材料的电子特性来实现。具体来说，我未来五年的研究计划将利用超短脉冲通过（i）振荡电位（Floquet物理学）以及（ii）选择性晶格畸变（共振声子泵浦和非线性声子）来瞬时控制量子材料的电子特性。 这些实验将处于超快科学和凝聚态物理学的前沿，并将为迄今为止隐藏的大量量子材料的瞬态特性提供突破性的见解。我们的目标是提供第一个动量分辨的实验证据，声子诱导的Floquet态和非线性声子泵效应在石墨。通过类似的实验方法，我们将驱动过渡金属二硫属化物的瞬态拓扑和磁性，以及控制锰氧化物中的金属-绝缘体转变和电荷有序。此外，我们将对铜氧化物超导体进行多技术研究（基于多时间分辨工具），突出动态顺序和电子相互作用在描述其复杂相图中的重要性。我的工作人员将在广泛的超快科学领域发展惊人的技能，包括材料的先进表征，吸引相当大的科学兴趣，并使INRS-EMT成为世界公认的量子材料动力学特性培训和研究中心。

Our modern and forthcoming technologies rely on solids' quantum properties, such as colossal magnetoresistance or superconductivity, which underlie the operation of storage devices and MRI machines, respectively. In this regard, novel properties and phases of matter may emerge in materials wherein strong electron correlations and low-dimensionality play in concert. These systems are often referred to as quantum materials. Although these new emergent phases/properties make quantum materials intriguing platforms for developing future technologies, these same phases/properties tend to be "intertwined", i.e. difficult to separate and control independently. To date, this intertwined character of quantum materials has limited their applicability in our day-to-day life, and the broad scientific community is frantically searching for new tools for wholly controlling quantum materials. In this research program, with my team of students and postdocs at INRS-EMT, I will develop new tools for controlling the underlying properties of quantum materials. We will investigate and optimize light-matter interaction as a powerful external "knob" to finely control the macroscopic properties of solids, with the ultimate goal to offer new technological breakthroughs on the ultrafast control of matter. This will be achieved by exploring, via time- and momentum-resolved spectroscopies, how high-intensity (0.1-1 MV/cm) long-wavelength (>4 µm) ultrafast light excitation reshapes the electronic properties of quantum materials. Specifically, my research program for the next five years will take advantage of ultrashort pulses to transiently control quantum materials' electronic properties via (i) oscillating potentials (Floquet physics), as well as (ii) selective lattice distortions (resonant phonon pumping and nonlinear phononics). These experiments will be at the frontier of ultrafast science and condensed matter physics and will offer groundbreaking insights into transient properties of a large variety of quantum materials that have been hidden so far. We aim to provide the first momentum-resolved experimental evidence of phonon-induced Floquet-states and nonlinear phonon pumping effects in graphite. Via a similar experimental approach, we will drive transient topological and magnetic properties in transition metal dichalcogenides, as well as control metal-to-insulator transition and charge-ordering in manganites. Furthermore, we will perform a multi-technique investigation (based on multi time-resolved tools) of copper-oxides superconductors, highlighting the importance of dynamical orders and electron interactions in describing their complex phase diagram. My personnel will develop stunning skills in the broad ultrafast science field, including advanced characterization of materials, attracting considerable scientific interest and making INRS-EMT a world-wide recognized centre for the training and study of dynamical properties of quantum materials.