Michael A. Sentef, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Hamburg will be giving a talk on 28th of January at 2.15 P.M.

Title: Light-matter coupling in quantum materials: From optical switching of Majoranas to cavity-controlled superconductivity

Abstract: The interaction of light and matter is at the heart of spectroscopies in condensed matter. With the development of ultra-short and ultra-strong laser pulses for pump-probe experiments, light is transforming from a tool to probe towards a tool to control and manipulate quantum many-body systems while driving them far away from their thermal equilibrium. In my presentation, I will discuss our recent theoretical and computational progress towards a microscopic understanding of light-driven solids with the long-term vision of nonequilibrium materials engineering.

First I will present a study on ultrafast optical control of chiral Majorana modes in topological superconductors [1], in which we present a pump pulse protocol allows for optical switching of an order parameter purely on symmetry grounds, which implies that it works both in the high-frequency („Floquet“) and low-frequency limits. Then I will show results for a cavity quantum-electrodynamical modification of electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in monolayer FeSe/SrTiO [2], in which the pure vacuum fluctuations of a confined photon field are used to engineer materials properties. This theoretical proposal has recently been demonstrated experimentally in the Ebbesen group by employing surface plasmon polaritons interacting with both conventional (Rb3C60) and unconventional (YBCO) superconductors [3]. 

[1] M. Claassen, D. M. Kennes, M. Zingl, M. A. Sentef, A. Rubio, Nature Physics 15, 766 (2019)

[2] M. A. Sentef, M. Ruggenthaler, A. Rubio, Science Advances 4, eaau6969 (2018)

[3] A. Thomas et al., arXiv:1911.01459

Read more about his research here:

https://lab.sentef.org