Optical Sciences Colloquium: 'Light-Driven Correlated Magnets'

Please join us for a public colloquium given by Kyle Seyler, assistant professor of optical sciences at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona.

Title: "Light-Driven Correlated Magnets"

Abstract: The quest to control the quantum properties of materials promises to unlock new physics and enable novel devices. An emerging approach is to harness ultrashort pulses of light to detect and modify the peculiar phenomena hosted by quantum materials. In this talk, Seyler will focus on our efforts to probe and control antiferromagnetic materials with ultrafast laser pulses. He will first show how optical second-harmonic generation can sensitively detect antiferromagnetic order, allowing the visualization of domains and domain walls. He will then highlight our discovery that antiferromagnetic domain walls can be driven to supersonic speeds by intense circularly polarized laser pulses.