Daniele Fausti - Optical control and quasiparticle witnessing in strongly correlated electron systems

The prospect of “forcing” the formation of quantum coherent states in matter, by means of pulsed electromagnetic fields, discloses a new regime of physics where thermodynamic limits can be bridged and quantum effects can, in principle, appear at ambient temperatures. In this presentation I will introduce the field of optical control of correlated electron systems. I will focus on the possibility of coherently driving low-lying excitations of quantum many body systems making light-based control of quantum phases in real materials feasible. I will review the recent results in archetypal strongly correlated cuprate superconductors and introduce our new approach to go beyond mean photon number observables. I will show that quantum features of light can provide a richer statistical information than standard linear and non-linear optical spectroscopies. This will potentially uncover with unprecedented detail the evolution and properties of light-induced transient states of matter.ReferencesScience 331 (6014), 189 (2011)Nature Comm. 6, 10249 (2015)Nature Comm. 5, 5112 (2014)New J. Phys. 16 043004 (2014)Nature materials 12 (10), 882-886(2013)