Interactive phononic matter: reshaping crystal landscapes for ultrafast switching

Introduction

For almost two millennia, people have been looking for the philosophers' stone, dreaming of the ability to change material properties at will. While turning lead to gold might just have become a reality, even though only a few atoms at a time, in a broader sense, we are still very far from this.

Project Overview

To make this dream come true, INTERPHON challenges the existing ideas and understanding of the interactions between light and matter. It develops a research area at the junction of nonlinear optics, phononics, and ultrafast magnetism, aiming at ultrafast and energy-efficient manipulation of materials by using the crystal lattice as a mediator.

Material Transformations

Thus, glass can be made into a magnet; antiferromagnets can be transformed into ferromagnets, and paraelectric materials can be converted into ferroelectric ones by exciting matter with long-wavelength light.

Innovative Approach

This fundamentally new approach to steering magnetic and electric order by ultrafast excitation at the frequencies of optical phonons has been made possible by my group’s latest work.

Key Features

• Controlled Deformation: It will involve a controlled deformation of the crystal lattice.
• Energy Efficiency: The process is non-thermal, making it energy-efficient.
• Ultrafast: It is precessional, hence ultrafast.
• Universality: The approach is potentially universal since the lattice is found in all crystalline materials.

Interestingly, it does not involve any absorption of light by the very same phonons! Instead, light will communicate with matter in an interactive way, allowing matter to reciprocate by changing the very resonance used for excitation.

Research Methods

To realize this, INTERPHON will develop novel research methods using short and intense pulses of an infrared-to-THz-range free electron laser.

Conclusion

Therefore, gaining control over the microscopic crystalline lattice could actually be the key to realizing a phononic philosopher’s stone, capable of inducing ultrafast phase transitions and permanently switching macroscopic order.

When successful, this will strongly advance the frontiers of knowledge in both out-of-equilibrium physics of solids and nonlinear optics, with potential for novel emerging technologies.