Powerful recent tool ushers in recent era of quantum materials research

A method called time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TR-ARPES) has emerged as a robust tool, allowing researchers to explore the equilibrium and dynamical properties of quantum materials via light-matter interaction.

Published within the physics review journal, Reviews of Modern Physics, a recent review paper by Professor Fabio Boschini from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), together with colleagues Marta Zonno from Canadian Light Source (CLS) and Andrea Damascelli from UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (Blusson QMI), illustrates that TR-ARPES has rapidly matured into a robust technique during the last twenty years.

“TR-ARPES is an efficient technique not just for fundamental studies, but in addition for characterizing out-of-equilibrium properties of quantum materials for future applications,” says Professor Boschini who focuses on ultrafast spectroscopies of condensed matter, on the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre.

A revolutionary tool for quantum materials research

The brand new paper provides a comprehensive review of research using TR-ARPES and its evolving significance in exploring light-induced electron dynamics and phase transitions in a big selection of quantum materials.

“The scientific community is currently investigating recent ‘tuning knobs’ to manage the electronic, transport, and magnetic properties of quantum materials on demand. One among these ‘tuning knobs’ is the light-matter interaction, which guarantees to supply nice control the properties of quantum materials on ultrafast timescales,” says Professor Boschini, who can also be a QMI affiliate investigator. “TR-ARPES is the perfect technique for this purpose, because it provides direct insight into how light excitation modifies electronic states with time, energy, and momentum resolution.”

“TR-ARPES has ushered in a brand new era of quantum materials research, allowing us to ‘knock on the system’ and observe the way it responds, and pushing the materials out of equilibrium to uncover their hidden properties,” adds Blusson QMI Scientific Director Andrea Damascelli.

Collaboration at the guts of TR ARPES’ success

TR-ARPES combines condensed matter spectroscopy (ARPES) with ultrafast lasers (photonics), bringing together research groups from each fields. The technique owes much of its success to significant advancements in developing recent laser sources capable of manufacturing light with precise characteristics.

Boschini is working closely on the topic with Professor François Légaré, a full professor at INRS and an authority in ultrafast laser science and technology. Together, Boschini’s and Légaré’s groups built and are operating a state-of-the-art TR-ARPES endstation with unique intense long-wavelength excitation capabilities on the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) laboratory.

“Because of the support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the governments of Québec (MEIE) and Canada, and LaserNetUS, in addition to the recent CFI Major Science Initiatives program, we at the moment are within the privileged position to open the TR-ARPES endstation at ALLS to national and international users,” states Professor Légaré, Director of the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre at INRS and Scientific Head of ALLS.

In response to Professor Boschini, TR-ARPES is now a mature technique with a proven impact on various branches of physics and chemistry. “Further experimental and theoretical developments, just like what we’re doing at ALLS, suggest that much more exciting times lie ahead,” he concludes.