IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-020-20834-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nonequilibrium dynamics of spontaneous symmetry breaking into a hidden state of charge-density wave

Author

Listed:
  • Faran Zhou

    (Michigan State University)

  • Joseph Williams

    (Michigan State University)

  • Shuaishuai Sun

    (Michigan State University)

  • Christos D. Malliakas

    (Northwestern University
    Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory)

  • Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

    (Northwestern University
    Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory)

  • Alexander F. Kemper

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Chong-Yu Ruan

    (Michigan State University)

Abstract

Nonequilibrium phase transitions play a pivotal role in broad physical contexts, from condensed matter to cosmology. Tracking the formation of nonequilibrium phases in condensed matter requires a resolution of the long-range cooperativity on ultra-short timescales. Here, we study the spontaneous transformation of a charge-density wave in CeTe3 from a stripe order into a bi-directional state inaccessible thermodynamically but is induced by intense laser pulses. With ≈100 fs resolution coherent electron diffraction, we capture the entire course of this transformation and show self-organization that defines a nonthermal critical point, unveiling the nonequilibrium energy landscape. We discuss the generation of instabilities by a swift interaction quench that changes the system symmetry preference, and the phase ordering dynamics orchestrated over a nonadiabatic timescale to allow new order parameter fluctuations to gain long-range correlations. Remarkably, the subsequent thermalization locks the remnants of the transient order into longer-lived topological defects for more than 2 ns.

Suggested Citation

  • Faran Zhou & Joseph Williams & Shuaishuai Sun & Christos D. Malliakas & Mercouri G. Kanatzidis & Alexander F. Kemper & Chong-Yu Ruan, 2021. "Nonequilibrium dynamics of spontaneous symmetry breaking into a hidden state of charge-density wave," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20834-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20834-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20834-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-20834-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chenhang Xu & Cheng Jin & Zijing Chen & Qi Lu & Yun Cheng & Bo Zhang & Fengfeng Qi & Jiajun Chen & Xunqing Yin & Guohua Wang & Dao Xiang & Dong Qian, 2023. "Transient dynamics of the phase transition in VO2 revealed by mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Nguyen Nhat Quyen & Wen-Yen Tzeng & Chih-En Hsu & I-An Lin & Wan-Hsin Chen & Hao-Hsiang Jia & Sheng-Chiao Wang & Cheng-En Liu & Yu-Sheng Chen & Wei-Liang Chen & Ta-Lei Chou & I-Ta Wang & Chia-Nung Kuo, 2024. "Three-dimensional ultrafast charge-density-wave dynamics in CuTe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20834-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.