0000000000420206
AUTHOR
S. Dal Conte
Laser-driven quantum magnonics and terahertz dynamics of the order parameter in antiferromagnets
The impulsive generation of two-magnon modes in antiferromagnets by femtosecond optical pulses, so-called femto-nanomagnons, leads to coherent longitudinal oscillations of the antiferromagnetic order parameter that cannot be described by a thermodynamic Landau-Lifshitz approach. We argue that this dynamics is triggered as a result of a laser-induced modification of the exchange interaction. In order to describe the oscillations we have formulated a quantum mechanical description in terms of magnon pair operators and coherent states. Such an approach allowed us to} derive an effective macroscopic equation of motion for the temporal evolution of the antiferromagnetic order parameter. An impli…
Intravalley spin-flip relaxation dynamics in single-layer WS2
Two-dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been widely studied because of the peculiar electronic band structure and the strong excitonic effects [1]. In these materials the large spin-orbit coupling lifts the spin degeneracy of the valence (VB) and the conduction band (CB) giving rise to the A and B interband excitonic transitions. In monolayer WS2, the spins of electrons in the lowest CB and in the highest VB at K/K' point of the Brillouin zone are antiparallel resulting in an intravalley dark exciton state at a lower energy than the bright exciton, see left panel of Fig.1. On the one hand, the presence of dark excitons has been revealed indirectly from the observation o…