Accepted author manuscript, 4.1 MB, PDF document
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Letter › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Letter › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - An effective magnetic field from optically driven phonons
AU - Nova, T. F.
AU - Cartella, A.
AU - Cantaluppi, A.
AU - Först, M.
AU - Bossini, D.
AU - Mikhaylovskiy, Rostislav
AU - Kimel, A.V.
AU - Merlin, R.
AU - Cavalleri, A.
PY - 2016/10/24
Y1 - 2016/10/24
N2 - Light fields at terahertz and mid-infrared frequencies allow for the direct excitation of collective modes in condensed matter, which can be driven to large amplitudes. For example, excitation of the crystal lattice has been shown to stimulate insulator–metal transitions, melt magnetic order or enhance superconductivity. Here, we generalize these ideas and explore the simultaneous excitation of more than one lattice mode, which are driven with controlled relative phases. This nonlinear mode mixing drives rotations as well as displacements of the crystal-field atoms, mimicking the application of a magnetic field and resulting in the excitation of spin precession in the rare-earth orthoferrite ErFeO3. Coherent control of lattice rotations may become applicable to other interesting problems in materials research—for example, as a way to affect the topology of electronic phases.
AB - Light fields at terahertz and mid-infrared frequencies allow for the direct excitation of collective modes in condensed matter, which can be driven to large amplitudes. For example, excitation of the crystal lattice has been shown to stimulate insulator–metal transitions, melt magnetic order or enhance superconductivity. Here, we generalize these ideas and explore the simultaneous excitation of more than one lattice mode, which are driven with controlled relative phases. This nonlinear mode mixing drives rotations as well as displacements of the crystal-field atoms, mimicking the application of a magnetic field and resulting in the excitation of spin precession in the rare-earth orthoferrite ErFeO3. Coherent control of lattice rotations may become applicable to other interesting problems in materials research—for example, as a way to affect the topology of electronic phases.
KW - antiferromagnetism
KW - phononics
KW - ultrafast
KW - terahertz
U2 - 10.1038/nphys3925
DO - 10.1038/nphys3925
M3 - Letter
VL - 13
SP - 132
EP - 136
JO - Nature Physics
JF - Nature Physics
SN - 1745-2473
ER -