Illinois Mobile App Master Calendar

Quantum materials are characterized by interactions that couple electron charges, spins, and orbitals, and the surrounding atomic lattice, leading to complex phase diagrams and distinctive macroscopic functionalities. In this talk, I will describe how light-matter interactions can be harnessed and engineered to manipulate the behavior of quantum materials and access phases not attainable otherwise. I will highlight our recent work demonstrating two contrasting regimes for to achieve such light-induced phases of matter. In the first approach, we excite the system with intense, THz-frequency light pulses to resonantly drive large amplitude atomic motions, which provides a knob to tune interactions and break symmetries. We apply this methodology to the hexagonal magnet, BaFe₁₂O₁₉, where we find that combining optical excitation with epitaxial strain provides a route to realize a room-temperature multiferroic state. An emerging alternative, which circumvents the drawbacks of intense laser radiation, leverages the ability to engineer the electromagnetic environment and enhance light-matter interactions in resonant optical cavities. I will present our novel THz cavity architecture, integrating atomic scale membranes, and show our work to test a recent theoretical proposal for cavity-induced ferroelectricity in SrTiO₃. These approaches underscore the growing paradigm of “non-equilibrium materials design” for rationally engineering novel functionalities and enabling next-generation quantum technologies.