I will discuss how coherent electromagnetic radiation, when tuned to drive collective modes in quantum materials, can be used to induce unexpected dynamical phases. An illustrative set of examples will be discussed for the nonlinear control of the crystal lattice, which is used to induce magnetic order in paramagnetic materials, ferroelectricity in paraelectrics, non-equilibrium superconductivity at high temperatures and other dynamical phases. These studies open up new directions in fundamental research, but also expose a set of phenomena that will inevitably be encountered if one wishes to use quantum materials in ultra-high bit-rate applications.
Alexander Balatsky, Ivan Khaymovich, Dhruba Mitra, Florian Niedermann