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Ultrafast photonics is the study of light and its interaction with matter on short timescales, typically less than a picosecond. This includes investigating processes that occur in atoms and molecules, such as the dynamics and correlations between electrons during ionization, and often employs ultrafast lasers or mode-locked lasers.
Correlated insulator states of moire excitons in transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures have attracted significant attention recently. Here the authors use time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy to demonstrate the effects of non-equilibrium correlations of moire excitons in WSe2/WS2 heterobilayers.
We introduce strong tailored light-wave-driven time-reversal symmetry breaking in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride, realizing a sub-laser-cycle controllable analogue of the topological model of Haldane and inducing non-resonant valley polarization.
The authors demonstrate high-order terahertz nonlinear magnonics using two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy, revealing the emergence of seventh-order spin-wave mixing and sixth harmonic magnon generation within an antiferromagnetic orthoferrite.
Ultrafast light-induced driving of phonons at resonance in a substrate facilitates the permanent reversal of the magnetic state of a material mounted on it.
Combining fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and ultrafast spectroscopy, the sample-averaged dynamics of defects are studied with single-particle sensitivity in two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride heterogeneous emitters.
A light-induced polar electronic state is generated in Cr2O3; the symmetry reduction occurs on an ultrafast timescale, ruling out contributions from the lattice or spins.
A diffractive axicon (a device that diffracts the input light pulse radially) enables complex correlations between the topological charges and the frequencies of ultrashort laser pulses, resulting in a variety of ultrashort coiled light structures.
Researchers have developed efficient electro-optic tools for manipulating the time and frequency of single photons by taking inspiration from Fresnel lenses.
A transmission electron microscopy technique enables movies of optical near-fields to be recorded with a temporal resolution faster than the oscillation of optical electric fields.
Dynamic control of incoherent light sources at ultrafast timescales is tremendously challenging. Now, a technique using a spatially structured optical pump and semiconductor metasurfaces has been developed that dynamically steers sub-picosecond pulses of ultrafast incoherent emission.