Johnson Lab

Research focus

ERC Starting Grant · 2024

Imaging The Topological Defects of Light-Induced Phases in Quantum Materials

Quantum materials host many exotic and useful phases, and harnessing these states has spurred tremendous research effort. However, the full potential of quantum materials lies in the rich landscape of higher-energy hidden phases, those which are not thermally accessible. Ultrafast laser excitation has recently emerged as a way access these hidden phases, leading to the idea of re-writing material properties “on demand”, but these states usually only survive for hundreds of picoseconds. Thus a key outstanding question remains: how can we stabilize light-induced phases? One key mechanism which can stabilize a phase is topology. The ultrafast phase transitions induced by femtosecond laser…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.