B.Q. Song, X. Yang, C. Sundahl, J.-H. Kang, M. Mootz, Y. Yao, I.E. Perakis, L. Luo, C.B. Eom, and J. Wang. 2023: Ultrafast Martensitic Phase Transition Driven by Intense Terahertz Pulses. Ultrafast Science, 2023(1). doi: 10.34133/ultrafastscience.0007
Citation:
B.Q. Song, X. Yang, C. Sundahl, J.-H. Kang, M. Mootz, Y. Yao, I.E. Perakis, L. Luo, C.B. Eom, and J. Wang. 2023: Ultrafast Martensitic Phase Transition Driven by Intense Terahertz Pulses. Ultrafast Science, 2023(1). doi: 10.34133/ultrafastscience.0007
B.Q. Song, X. Yang, C. Sundahl, J.-H. Kang, M. Mootz, Y. Yao, I.E. Perakis, L. Luo, C.B. Eom, and J. Wang. 2023: Ultrafast Martensitic Phase Transition Driven by Intense Terahertz Pulses. Ultrafast Science, 2023(1). doi: 10.34133/ultrafastscience.0007
Citation:
B.Q. Song, X. Yang, C. Sundahl, J.-H. Kang, M. Mootz, Y. Yao, I.E. Perakis, L. Luo, C.B. Eom, and J. Wang. 2023: Ultrafast Martensitic Phase Transition Driven by Intense Terahertz Pulses. Ultrafast Science, 2023(1). doi: 10.34133/ultrafastscience.0007
a Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA.
b Ames National Laboratory of U.S. DOE, Ames, IA 50011, USA.
c Department of Materials Science and Engineering,University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
d Department of Physics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-1170, USA.
Funds:
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering Division under contract no. DEAC02-07CH11358 (scientific drive, THz spectroscopy characterization of Martensitic phase, and theoretical prediction and analysis).Work was also supported by the U.S. DOE, Office of Science,National Quantum Information Science Research Centers,Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS),under contract no. DE-AC02-07CH11359 (THz spectroscopy of superconducting phase). Work at the University of Wisconsin was supported by the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences under award no. DE-FG02-06ER46327 (structural and electrical characterizations) and Department of Energy grant no. DE-SC100387-020 (sample growth). Theory work at the University of Alabama, Birmingham was supported by the U.S.Department of Energy under contract no. DE-SC0019137 (to I.E.P.). The ultrafast laser used was partially supported by National Science Foundation EECS 1611454.
We report on an ultrafast nonequilibrium phase transition with a strikingly long-lived martensitic anomaly driven by above-threshold single-cycle terahertz pulses with a peak field of more than 1 MV/cm.A nonthermal, terahertz-induced depletion of low-frequency conductivity in Nb3Sn indicates increased gap splitting of high-energy Γ12 bands by removal of their degeneracies, which induces the martensitic phase above their equilibrium transition temperature. In contrast, optical pumping leads to a Γ12 gap thermal melting. Such light-induced nonequilibrium martensitic phase exhibits a substantially enhanced critical temperature up to ∼100 K, i.e., more than twice the equilibrium temperature, and can be stabilized beyond technologically relevant, nanosecond time scales. Together with first-principle simulations, we identify a compelling terahertz tuning mechanism of structural order via Γ12 phonons to achieve the ultrafast phase transition to a metastable electronic state out of equilibrium at high temperatures far exceeding those for equilibrium states.