April 22 - 26, 2024
Seattle, Washington
May 7 - 9, 2024 (Virtual)

Event Supporters

2024 MRS Spring Meeting
QT02.08.04

Nonlinear Optics in Magnetic Quantum Materials and Axion Electrodynamics

When and Where

Apr 25, 2024
10:30am - 11:00am
Room 421, Level 4, Summit

Presenter(s)

Prineha Narang, Harvard University

Co-Author(s)

Emily Been1,Prineha Narang1

University of California, Los Angeles1

Abstract

Emily Been1,Prineha Narang1

University of California, Los Angeles1
<br/>Parametric optical nonlinearities are critical to a wide spectrum of photonic technologies, from optical parametric oscillators to frequency combs to quantum information processing. Optical nonlinearities also serve as a powerful method for mapping material properties including the symmetries of electronic structure. Optical nonlinearities are generally very small in conventional materials as they depend on higher order effects. Parallel to these technical needs, the field of topological materials has seen the prediction and discovery of a large number of massless, three-dimensional linear dispersion systems known as Dirac and Weyl semimetals. It was soon realized that these materials may offer a rich new material phase space for extending the nonlinear effects of graphene including the role of topology and Berry connection. In this context, I will present our recent work on predicting the optoelectronic and nonlinear properties of Dirac and Weyl semimetals with an emphasis on figures of merit (FoMs) that we will evaluate for these new Weyl and Dirac semimetals that capture the confinement and nonlinearity to describe the second and third order susceptibilities and electro-optic coefficients of the materials. Next, I will discuss our recent results on the multiphoton spectroscopy of a dynamical axion insulator. Here, the axion receives contributions from the collective motion of electrons, leading to a nonlinear topological magnetoelectric effect. Identifying this collective axion response faces a number of major experimental difficulties, which necessitate a theory-predicted smoking gun signature. We demonstrate a two-step protocol for the unambiguous optical identification of the collective axion mode in such a system. First, we show how collective oscillations of the axion mode can be induced by two-photon absorption or stimulated Raman spectroscopy, with the magnetoelectric nature of the excitation manifesting in the polarization dependence of the excitation beams. Second, we show how the axion oscillations can be confirmed through their manifestations in the time-resolved Kerr-rotation, which again carries signature polarization dependence due to the magnetoelectric nature of the coupling. Looking ahead, I will discuss how collective responses in topological quantum materials can be unambiguously identified in nonlinear electrodynamical probes, as well as identify potential avenues for intersections with particle physics in axion electrodynamics.

Symposium Organizers

Zhong Lin, Binghamton University
Yunqiu Kelly Luo, University of Southern California
Andrew F. May, Oak Ridge National Laboratoryy
Dmitry Ovchinnikov, University of Kansas

Symposium Support

Silver
Thorlabs Bronze
Vacuum Technology Inc.

Session Chairs

Dmitry Ovchinnikov
Veronika Sunko

In this Session