Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 43: Correlated Electrons: Metal-Insulator Transition 2
TT 43.7: Talk
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 16:45–17:00, H 3010
Ultrafast strain engineering in complex oxide heterostructures — •Paul Popovich1, Andrea Caviglia1, Raoul Scherwitzl3, Wanzheng Hu1, Hubertus Bromberger1, Rashmi Singla1, Matteo Mitrano1, Matthias C. Hoffmann1, Stefan Kaiser1, Pavlo Zubko3, Sergio Gariglio3, Jean-Marc Triscone3, Michael Först1, and Andrea Cavalleri1,2 — 1Max-Planck Research Group for Structural Dynamics - Center for Free Electron Laser Science, University of Hamburg, Germany — 2Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, UK — 3Departement de Physique de la Matiere Condensee, University of Geneva, 24 Quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211 Geneve 4, Switzerland
The mechanical coupling between the substrate and the thin film is expected to be effective on the ultrafast timescale, and could be exploited for the dynamic control of materials properties. Here, we demonstrate that a large-amplitude mid-infrared field, made resonant with a stretching mode of the substrate, can switch the electronic properties of a thin film across an interface. Exploiting dynamic strain propagation between different components of a heterostructure, insulating antiferromagnetic NdNiO3 is driven through a prompt, five-order-of-magnitude increase of the electrical conductivity, with resonant frequency and susceptibility that is controlled by choice of the substrate material. Vibrational phase control, extended here to a wide class of heterostructures and interfaces, may be conducive to new strategies for electronic phase control at THz repetition rates.