亚稳态
皮秒
超晶格
超短脉冲
材料科学
极化(电化学)
纳米尺度
凝聚态物理
相(物质)
化学物理
电介质
物质状态
相变
光学
光电子学
纳米技术
物理
化学
激光器
物理化学
量子力学
作者
Vladimir Stoica,Nouamane Laanait,Cheng Dai,Zijian Hong,Yakun Yuan,Z. Zhang,Shiming Lei,Margaret McCarter,Ajay K. Yadav,Anoop R. Damodaran,Sujit Das,Greg Stone,Jenia Karapetrova,Donald A. Walko,X. Zhang,Lane W. Martin,R. Ramesh,Lei Chen,Haidan Wen,Venkatraman Gopalan,J. W. Freeland
出处
期刊:Nature Materials
[Springer Nature]
日期:2019-03-18
卷期号:18 (4): 377-383
被引量:114
标识
DOI:10.1038/s41563-019-0311-x
摘要
Stimulation with ultrafast light pulses can realize and manipulate states of matter with emergent structural, electronic and magnetic phenomena. However, these non-equilibrium phases are often transient and the challenge is to stabilize them as persistent states. Here, we show that atomic-scale PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices, counterpoising strain and polarization states in alternate layers, are converted by sub-picosecond optical pulses to a supercrystal phase. This phase persists indefinitely under ambient conditions, has not been created via equilibrium routes, and can be erased by heating. X-ray scattering and microscopy show this unusual phase consists of a coherent three-dimensional structure with polar, strain and charge-ordering periodicities of up to 30 nm. By adjusting only dielectric properties, the phase-field model describes this emergent phase as a photo-induced charge-stabilized supercrystal formed from a two-phase equilibrium state. Our results demonstrate opportunities for light-activated pathways to thermally inaccessible and emergent metastable states.
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