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Area of Science:

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Materials Science
  • Ultrafast Phenomena

Background:

  • Metastable states of matter are typically inaccessible under equilibrium conditions.
  • Understanding the link between ultrafast excitation and the stabilization of these states is key.
  • Engineered heterostructures offer tunable properties for exploring novel material phases.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of metastability induced by ultrafast stimuli.
  • To capture the emergence of a persistent polar vortex supercrystal in a designer heterostructure.
  • To elucidate the non-equilibrium pathways leading to persistent metastability.

Main Methods:

  • Single-shot optical pump-X-ray probe measurements were employed to capture dynamic processes.
  • Photoinduced charges were used to perturb the delicate balance of electrostatic and elastic frustrations.
  • Dynamical phase-field modeling corroborated the experimental observations.

Main Results:

  • Ultrafast photoexcitation rapidly induced disorder in polar phases within picoseconds.
  • Transient labyrinthine fluctuations were observed on picosecond-nanosecond timescales, followed by vortex order recovery.
  • Dynamical strain modulations progressively quenched fluctuations, leading to a collective polar vortex supercrystal phase.

Conclusions:

  • Designer heterostructures can be driven into persistent metastable states via ultrafast excitation.
  • Non-equilibrium pathways involving charge and strain dynamics are crucial for supercrystal formation.
  • This work demonstrates a route to stabilize exotic material phases using light.