PHYSICS Colloquium
March 23, 2023, Thursday, 3:30pm CST
Where: 110 Physical Sciences
Reception: PS 147, 3:00pm

 

DR. MARK DEAN
Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department
Brookhaven National Lab

X-RAY VISION OF ELECTRON BEHAVIOR IN QUANTUM MATERIALS

ABSTRACT: Many of the most remarkable properties of quantum materials come from the interplay of multiple charge, orbital, and spin degrees of freedom. Probing all of these with a single technique is consequently highly desirable. In this talk, I will describe the experimental technique of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) and its unique capabilities to probe all these degrees of freedom even in atomically thin samples or at ultrafast timescales. This will be illustrated by some of our work on iridium-based magnetic materials including the discovery of a novel “antiferromagnetic excitonic insulator” [1] and efforts to control magnetism via ultrafast laser excitation [2-3]. I will finish by outlining future research opportunities in this area.

[1] Antiferromagnetic excitonic insulator state in Sr3Ir2O7, D. G. Mazzone et al., Nature Communications 13, 913 (2022)

[2] Laser-induced transient magnons in Sr3Ir2O7 throughout the Brillouin zone

D. G. Mazzone, et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, e2103696118 (2021)

[3] Ultrafast energy and momentum resolved dynamics of magnetic correlations in photo-doped Mott insulator Sr2IrO4, M. P. M. Dean et al., Nature Materials 15, 601–605 (2016)