As part of a broader international collaboration, our colleagues Osor S. Barišić and Andrey Mishchenko have published a paper in Physical Review X titled “Excitations across the Equilibrium and Photoinduced ‘Hidden’ States of Magnetoresistive Manganites.” The work reports the discovery of a novel light-induced phase in a strongly correlated material, with our colleagues contributing to the theoretical interpretation of the results.
The study focuses on the LCMO manganite, a system characterized by strong coupling between electronic, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom. Using ultrafast laser excitation combined with resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS), the researchers demonstrate the emergence of a “hidden” phase that does not exist under equilibrium conditions.
This photoinduced phase exhibits distinct properties, including reduced electrical resistivity, partial suppression of the Jahn–Teller distortion, and pronounced softening of polaron excitations, while phonon modes remain largely unchanged. These findings point to a metastable state that is fundamentally different from known equilibrium phases.
The results demonstrate that material properties can be controlled by light, opening new pathways for manipulating quantum materials far from equilibrium. In particular, polaronic effects are identified as a key microscopic link between transport properties and excitation spectra. This work represents an important step toward the design and control of functional states of matter using ultrafast optical excitation.
The full paper is available: doi.org/10.1103/24wn-q427
