Terahertz electric-field driven dynamical multiferroicity in SrTiO$_3$

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Basini, M., Pancaldi, M., Wehinger, B., Udina, M., Tadano, T., Hoffmann, M. C., Balatsky, A. V., Bonetti, S.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
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author Basini, M.
Pancaldi, M.
Wehinger, B.
Udina, M.
Tadano, T.
Hoffmann, M. C.
Balatsky, A. V.
Bonetti, S.
author_facet Basini, M.
Pancaldi, M.
Wehinger, B.
Udina, M.
Tadano, T.
Hoffmann, M. C.
Balatsky, A. V.
Bonetti, S.
contents The emergence of collective order in matter is among the most fundamental and intriguing phenomena in physics. In recent years, the ultrafast dynamical control and creation of novel ordered states of matter not accessible in thermodynamic equilibrium is receiving much attention. Among those, the theoretical concept of dynamical multiferroicity has been introduced to describe the emergence of magnetization by means of a time-dependent electric polarization in non-ferromagnetic materials. In simple terms, a large amplitude coherent rotating motion of the ions in a crystal induces a magnetic moment along the axis of rotation. However, the experimental verification of this effect is still lacking. Here, we provide evidence of room temperature magnetization in the archetypal paraelectric perovskite SrTiO$_3$ due to this mechanism. To achieve it, we resonantly drive the infrared-active soft phonon mode with intense circularly polarized terahertz electric field, and detect a large magneto-optical Kerr effect. A simple model, which includes two coupled nonlinear oscillators whose forces and couplings are derived with ab-initio calculations using self-consistent phonon theory at a finite temperature, reproduces qualitatively our experimental observations on the temporal and frequency domains. A quantitatively correct magnitude of the effect is obtained when one also considers the phonon analogue of the reciprocal of the Einsten - de Haas effect, also called the Barnett effect, where the total angular momentum from the phonon order is transferred to the electronic one. Our findings show a new path for designing ultrafast magnetic switches by means of coherent control of lattice vibrations with light.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2210_01690
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Terahertz electric-field driven dynamical multiferroicity in SrTiO$_3$
Basini, M.
Pancaldi, M.
Wehinger, B.
Udina, M.
Tadano, T.
Hoffmann, M. C.
Balatsky, A. V.
Bonetti, S.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
The emergence of collective order in matter is among the most fundamental and intriguing phenomena in physics. In recent years, the ultrafast dynamical control and creation of novel ordered states of matter not accessible in thermodynamic equilibrium is receiving much attention. Among those, the theoretical concept of dynamical multiferroicity has been introduced to describe the emergence of magnetization by means of a time-dependent electric polarization in non-ferromagnetic materials. In simple terms, a large amplitude coherent rotating motion of the ions in a crystal induces a magnetic moment along the axis of rotation. However, the experimental verification of this effect is still lacking. Here, we provide evidence of room temperature magnetization in the archetypal paraelectric perovskite SrTiO$_3$ due to this mechanism. To achieve it, we resonantly drive the infrared-active soft phonon mode with intense circularly polarized terahertz electric field, and detect a large magneto-optical Kerr effect. A simple model, which includes two coupled nonlinear oscillators whose forces and couplings are derived with ab-initio calculations using self-consistent phonon theory at a finite temperature, reproduces qualitatively our experimental observations on the temporal and frequency domains. A quantitatively correct magnitude of the effect is obtained when one also considers the phonon analogue of the reciprocal of the Einsten - de Haas effect, also called the Barnett effect, where the total angular momentum from the phonon order is transferred to the electronic one. Our findings show a new path for designing ultrafast magnetic switches by means of coherent control of lattice vibrations with light.
title Terahertz electric-field driven dynamical multiferroicity in SrTiO$_3$
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.01690