Methods to probe and understand the dynamic response of materials following impulsive excitation are important for many fields, from materials and energy sciences to chemical and neuroscience. To design more efficient nano, energy, and quantum devices, new methods are needed to uncover the dominant excitations and reaction pathways. In this work, we implement a newly-developed superlet transform—a super-resolution time-frequency analytical method—to analyze and extract phonon dynamics in a laser-excited two-dimensional (2D) quantum material. This quasi-2D system, 1T-TaSe2, supports both equilibrium and metastable light-induced charge density wave (CDW) phases mediated by strongly coupled phonons. We compare the effectiveness of the superlet transform to standard time-frequency techniques. We find that the superlet transform is superior in both time and frequency resolution, and use it to observe and validate novel physics. In particular, we show fluence-dependent changes in the coupled dynamics of three phonon modes that are similar in frequency, including the CDW amplitude mode, that clearly demonstrate a change in the dominant charge-phonon couplings. More interestingly, the frequencies of the three phonon modes, including the strongly-coupled CDW amplitude mode, remain time- and fluence-independent, which is unusual compared to previously investigated materials. Our study opens a new avenue for capturing the coherent evolution and couplings of strongly-coupled materials and quantum systems.
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Ultrafast electron calorimetry uncovers a new long-lived metastable state in 1 T -TaSe 2 mediated by mode-selective electron-phonon coupling
Quantum materials represent one of the most promising frontiers in the quest for faster, lightweight, energy-efficient technologies. However, their inherent complexity and rich phase landscape make them challenging to understand or manipulate. Here, we present a new ultrafast electron calorimetry technique that can systematically uncover new phases of quantum matter. Using time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we measure the dynamic electron temperature, band structure, and heat capacity. This approach allows us to uncover a new long-lived metastable state in the charge density wave material 1 T -TaSe 2 , which is distinct from all the known equilibrium phases: It is characterized by a substantially reduced effective total heat capacity that is only 30% of the normal value, because of selective electron-phonon coupling to a subset of phonon modes. As a result, less energy is required to melt the charge order and transform the state of the material than under thermal equilibrium conditions.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1734006
- PAR ID:
- 10091671
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Volume:
- 5
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2375-2548
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- eaav4449
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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