_version_ 1866916982400483328
author Haque, Sheikh Rubaiat Ul
Cross, Martin J.
Rajpurohit, Sangeeta
Haber, Jonah B.
Ciccarino, Christopher J.
Zimmerman, Alexandra C.
Sealey, Isabelle J.
Kulichenko, Vadym
Tie, Monique
Wang, Huaiyu
Philip, Sharon S.
Seo, Choongwon
Koralek, Jake D.
Balicas, Luis
Ozerov, Mykhaylo
Smirnov, Dmitry
Tan, Liang Z.
da Jornada, Felipe H.
Ogitsu, Tadashi
Hoffmann, Matthias C.
Heinz, Tony F.
Lindenberg, Aaron M.
author_facet Haque, Sheikh Rubaiat Ul
Cross, Martin J.
Rajpurohit, Sangeeta
Haber, Jonah B.
Ciccarino, Christopher J.
Zimmerman, Alexandra C.
Sealey, Isabelle J.
Kulichenko, Vadym
Tie, Monique
Wang, Huaiyu
Philip, Sharon S.
Seo, Choongwon
Koralek, Jake D.
Balicas, Luis
Ozerov, Mykhaylo
Smirnov, Dmitry
Tan, Liang Z.
da Jornada, Felipe H.
Ogitsu, Tadashi
Hoffmann, Matthias C.
Heinz, Tony F.
Lindenberg, Aaron M.
contents Strong-field terahertz (THz) excitations enable dynamic control over electronic, lattice and symmetry degrees of freedom in quantum materials. Here, we uncover pronounced terahertz-induced symmetry modulations and coherent phonon dynamics in the van der Waals antiferromagnet MnPS3, in which inversion symmetry is broken by its antiferromagnetic spin configuration. Time-resolved second harmonic generation measurements reveal long-lived giant oscillations in the antiferromagnetic phase, with amplitudes comparable to the equilibrium signal, driven by phonons involving percent-level atomic displacements relative to the equilibrium bond lengths. The temporal evolution of the rotational anisotropy patterns indicate a dynamic breaking of mirror symmetry, modulated by two vibrational modes at 1.7 THz and 4.5 THz, with the former corresponding to a hidden mode not observed in equilibrium spectroscopy. We show that these effects arise in part from a field-induced charge rearrangement mechanism that lowers the local crystal symmetry, and couples to the phonon modes. A long-lived field-driven response was uncovered with a complex THz polarization dependence which, in comparison to theory, indicates evidence for an antiferromagnetic-to-ferrimagnetic transition. Our results establish an effective field-tunable pathway for driving excitations otherwise weak in equilibrium, and for manipulating magnetism in low-dimensional materials via dynamical modulation of symmetry.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_00605
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Terahertz field-induced giant symmetry modulations in a van der Waals antiferromagnet
Haque, Sheikh Rubaiat Ul
Cross, Martin J.
Rajpurohit, Sangeeta
Haber, Jonah B.
Ciccarino, Christopher J.
Zimmerman, Alexandra C.
Sealey, Isabelle J.
Kulichenko, Vadym
Tie, Monique
Wang, Huaiyu
Philip, Sharon S.
Seo, Choongwon
Koralek, Jake D.
Balicas, Luis
Ozerov, Mykhaylo
Smirnov, Dmitry
Tan, Liang Z.
da Jornada, Felipe H.
Ogitsu, Tadashi
Hoffmann, Matthias C.
Heinz, Tony F.
Lindenberg, Aaron M.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Strong-field terahertz (THz) excitations enable dynamic control over electronic, lattice and symmetry degrees of freedom in quantum materials. Here, we uncover pronounced terahertz-induced symmetry modulations and coherent phonon dynamics in the van der Waals antiferromagnet MnPS3, in which inversion symmetry is broken by its antiferromagnetic spin configuration. Time-resolved second harmonic generation measurements reveal long-lived giant oscillations in the antiferromagnetic phase, with amplitudes comparable to the equilibrium signal, driven by phonons involving percent-level atomic displacements relative to the equilibrium bond lengths. The temporal evolution of the rotational anisotropy patterns indicate a dynamic breaking of mirror symmetry, modulated by two vibrational modes at 1.7 THz and 4.5 THz, with the former corresponding to a hidden mode not observed in equilibrium spectroscopy. We show that these effects arise in part from a field-induced charge rearrangement mechanism that lowers the local crystal symmetry, and couples to the phonon modes. A long-lived field-driven response was uncovered with a complex THz polarization dependence which, in comparison to theory, indicates evidence for an antiferromagnetic-to-ferrimagnetic transition. Our results establish an effective field-tunable pathway for driving excitations otherwise weak in equilibrium, and for manipulating magnetism in low-dimensional materials via dynamical modulation of symmetry.
title Terahertz field-induced giant symmetry modulations in a van der Waals antiferromagnet
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00605