Terahertz optics articles within Nature Materials

Featured

• Article
  01 February 2024 | Open Access

  Quenched lattice fluctuations in optically driven SrTiO₃

  Intense light pulses can induce symmetry breaking, as for the generation of ferroelectricity in SrTiO₃. Using ultrafast X-ray diffuse scattering at a free-electron laser, nonlinear phonon interactions that occur on such mid-IR excitation are observed, with a theory for the dynamics presented.

  • M. Fechner
  • , M. Först
  •  & A. Cavalleri

• Article | 05 January 2024

  Evidence for d-wave superconductivity of infinite-layer nickelates from low-energy electrodynamics

  The authors utilize both static and ultrafast terahertz conductivity spectroscopy to address the character of the superconducting state of infinite-layer nickelates.

  • Bing Cheng
  • , Di Cheng
  •  & Jigang Wang

• Letter | 09 March 2023

  Observation of a massive phason in a charge-density-wave insulator

  We report the observation of narrowband terahertz emission from a quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave insulator, (TaSe₄)₂I. The origin of the emitted radiation is interpreted as a phason that obtains mass due to the long-range Coulomb interaction.

  • Soyeun Kim
  • , Yinchuan Lv
  •  & Fahad Mahmood

• Article | 18 January 2021

  A light-induced phononic symmetry switch and giant dissipationless topological photocurrent in ZrTe₅

  Femtosecond optical pulses are used to generate coherent phonons that break inversion symmetry and drive anisotropic terahertz photocurrents in the topological material ZrTe₅.

  • Liang Luo
  • , Di Cheng
  •  & Jigang Wang

• Letter | 04 June 2018

  Terahertz-light quantum tuning of a metastable emergent phase hidden by superconductivity

  THz pump–probe experiments of superconducting Nb₃Sn reveal that a metastable phase is induced for excitation fields around 250 kV cm⁻¹.

  • X. Yang
  • , C. Vaswani
  •  & J. Wang

• Feature | 23 April 2018

  Ferroelectric large polarons

  Kiyoshi Miyata and X.-Y. Zhu analyse the ferroelectric-like dielectric response of lead halide perovskites in the terahertz region and discuss the potential role of polar nanodomains in accounting for the defect tolerance and low recombination rates of these materials.

  • Kiyoshi Miyata
  •  & X.-Y. Zhu

• Letter | 11 July 2016

  Cooperative photoinduced metastable phase control in strained manganite films

  Strain engineering can ‘hide’ the ordinal ferrometallic state in manganite films, pushing the system to a metastable state, which can then be controlled through photoexcitation.

  • Jingdi Zhang
  • , Xuelian Tan
  •  & R. D. Averitt

• Letter | 08 August 2010

  Designer spoof surface plasmon structures collimate terahertz laser beams

  Terahertz emitters, such as quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), are of interest for applications in imaging and sensing. Nevertheless, performance problems such as power out-coupling efficiency have limited their technological potential. However, a study now shows that subwavelength surface patterning of terahertz QCLs leads to significantly enhanced beam collimation and power collection efficiency.

  • Nanfang Yu
  • , Qi Jie Wang
  •  & Federico Capasso