Decoupling of static and dynamic criticality in a driven Mott insulator
Abstract
Strongly driven antiferromagnetic Mott insulators have the potential to exhibit exotic transient phenomena that are forbidden in thermal equilibrium. However, such far-from-equilibrium regimes, where conventional time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau descriptions fail, are experimentally challenging to prepare and to probe especially in solid state systems. Here we use a combination of time-resolved second harmonic optical polarimetry and coherent magnon spectroscopy to interrogate n-type photo-doping induced ultrafast magnetic order parameter dynamics in the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator Sr2IrO4. We find signatures of an unusual far-from-equilibrium critical regime in which the divergences of the magnetic correlation length and relaxation time are decoupled. This violation of conventional thermal critical behavior arises from the interplay of photo-doping and non-thermal magnon population induced demagnetization effects. Our findings, embodied in a non-equilibrium phase diagram, provide a blueprint for engineering the out-of-equilibrium properties of quantum matter, with potential applications to terahertz spintronics technologies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Feb 04, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s42005-022-00813-6
Entities
People
- A. de la Torre
- David Hsieh
- G Cao
- Gil Refael
- Gufeng Zhang
- Isabelle Phinney
- John W. Harter
- Kyle L Seyler
- Liuyan Zhao
- Michael Buchhold
- Nicholas J. Laurita
- Richard D. Averitt
- Stephen D Wilson
- Xiang Chen
- Yuval Baum
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- National Science Foundation