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Phonon-assisted formation of an itinerant electronic density wave
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Electronic instabilities drive ordering transitions in condensed matter. Despite many advances in the microscopic understanding of the ordered states, a more nuanced and profound question often remains unanswered: how do the collective excitations influence the electronic order formation? Here, we experimentally show that a phonon affects the spin density wave (SDW) formation after an SDW-quench by femtosecond laser pulses. In a thin film, the temperature-dependent SDW period is quantized, allowing us to track the out-of-equilibrium formation path of the SDW precisely. By exploiting its persistent coupling to the lattice, we probe the SDW through the transient lattice distortion, measured by femtosecond X-ray diffraction. We find that within 500 femtoseconds after a complete quench, the SDW forms with the low-temperature period, directly bypassing a thermal state with the high-temperature period. We argue that a momentum-matched phonon launched by the quench changes the formation path of the SDW through the dynamic pinning of the order parameter.
- Subjects :
- Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.2012.05353
- Document Type :
- Working Paper