The advent of ultrafast laser sources paved new way in the synthesis of materials, as it has become possible to access new phases of matter (charge density waves, order-disorder phase transitions, magnetism, ferroelectricity) in the transient period following a laser excitation.
The understanding of light-induced phase transition is still in its infancy and it is still unclear which kind of phases can be accessed after illuminating a given material.
The goal of the current proposal is to achieve a sound understanding of ultrafast phase transitions in technologically relevant materials and to realize a computational screening of the possible hidden phases induced by femtosecond pulses in materials.
Methods of choices will be ab initio and molecular dynamics simulations in the presence of a large number of photocarriers forming a thermalized electron-hole plasma.
Matteo Calandra, University of Trento - Italy