Collective Dynamics in Complex Phases of Bulk and 2D Materials

The Gordon Research Seminar on Ultrafast Phenomena in Cooperative Systems is a unique forum for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas.

This seminar focuses on recent developments in the discovery and control of complex phases of matter through ultrafast experimental, theoretical, and computational methods. Ultrashort laser pulses can be used to trigger dynamical processes in materials that modulate their physical properties on timescales of pico- and femtoseconds and can even lead to emergent phases that are not accessible in equilibrium. A variety of complex phases of matter have been discovered in both bulk and two-dimensional quantum materials, including topological order, charge density waves, excitonic insulators, unconventional superconductivity, magnetic frustration, ferroic order, and phenomena arising from strong correlations. These novel phases and their ultrafast collective dynamics can be investigated through time-resolved methods, such as electron and x-ray diffraction, THz and optical spectroscopy, second harmonic generation, and electron energy loss and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. At the same time, theoretical and computational analyses of the underlying processes are essential to understand the physical origins of these phenomena.