Abstract- A terahertz-driven non-equilibrium phase transition in a room temperature atomic vapour

C. G. Wade, M. Marcuzzi, E. Levi, J. M. Kondo, I. Lesanovsky, C. S. Adams, K. J. Weatherill,

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05597-4

There are few demonstrated examples of phase transitions that may be driven directly by terahertz frequency electric fields, and those that are known require field strengths exceeding 1 MV cm−1. Here we report a non-equilibrium phase transition driven by a weak (≪1 V cm−1), continuous-wave terahertz electric field. The system consists of room temperature caesium vapour under continuous optical excitation to a high-lying Rydberg state, which is resonantly coupled to a nearby level by the terahertz electric field. We use a simple model to understand the underlying physical behaviour, and we demonstrate two protocols to exploit the phase transition as a narrowband terahertz detector: the first with a fast (20 μs) non-linear response to nano-Watts of incident radiation, and the second with a linearised response and effective noise equivalent power ≤1 pW Hz−1/2. The work opens the door to a class of terahertz devices controlled with low-field intensities and operating in a room temperature environment.

Abstract-Uncovering the Connection Between Low-Frequency Dynamics and Phase Transformation Phenomena in Molecular Solids

Michael T. Ruggiero, Wei Zhang, Andrew D. Bond, Daniel M. Mittleman, and J. Axel Zeitler

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.196002

The low-frequency motions of molecules in the condensed phase have been shown to be vital to a large number of physical properties and processes. However, in the case of disordered systems, it is often difficult to elucidate the atomic-level details surrounding these phenomena. In this work, we have performed an extensive experimental and computational study on the molecular solid camphor, which exhibits a rich and complex structure-dynamics relationship, and undergoes an order-disorder transition near ambient conditions. The combination of x-ray diffraction, variable temperature and pressure terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, ab initio molecular dynamics, and periodic density functional theory calculations enables a complete picture of the phase transition to be obtained, inclusive of mechanistic, structural, and thermodynamic phenomena. Additionally, the low-frequency vibrations of a disordered solid are characterized for the first time with atomic-level precision, uncovering a clear link between such motions and the phase transformation. Overall, this combination of methods allows for significant details to be obtained for disordered solids and the associated transformations, providing a framework that can be directly applied for a wide range of similar systems.

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