Optical manipulation of electronic dimensionality in a quantum material

Exotic phenomena can be achieved in quantum materials by confining electronic states into two dimensions. For example, relativistic fermions are realized in a single layer of carbon atoms¹, the quantized Hall effect can result from two-dimensional (2D) systems^2,3, and the superconducting transition temperature can be considerably increased in a one-atomic-layer material^4,5. Ordinarily, a 2D electronic system can be obtained by exfoliating the layered materials, growing monolayer materials on substrates, or establishing interfaces between different materials. Here we use femtosecond infrared laser pulses to invert the periodic lattice distortion sectionally in a three-dimensional (3D) charge density wave material (1T-TiSe₂), creating macroscopic domain walls of transient 2D ordered electronic states with unusual properties. The corresponding ultrafast electronic and lattice dynamics are captured by time-resolved and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy⁶ and ultrafast electron diffraction at energies of the order of megaelectronvolts⁷. Moreover, in the photoinduced 2D domain wall near the surface we identify a phase with enhanced density of states and signatures of potential opening of an energy gap near the Fermi energy. Such optical modulation of atomic motion is an alternative path towards realizing 2D electronic states and will be a useful platform upon which novel phases in quantum materials may be discovered.