Light-Induced Charge Order Mode in a Metastable Cuprate Ladder

Physical Review Letters 2026 Open access

Read full text
Authors: Haricharan Padmanabhan, P. A. Sharma, Sophia F. R. TenHuisen, Filippo Glerean, Aye Roll, Pan Zhou, Sarbajaya Kundu, Arnau Romaguera, Elizabeth Skoropata, Hiroki Ueda, B. Liu, Eugenio Paris
+8 more Yu Wang, Seng Huat Lee, Zhiqiang Q. Mao, M. P. M. Dean, Edwin W. Huang, Elia Razzoli, Yao Wang, Matteo Mitrano
DOI: 10.1103/wdcf-jly6
Cited by: 1
References: 80

Abstract

We report the observation of an emergent charge order mode in the optically excited cuprate ladder Sr_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41}. Near-infrared light in the ladder plane drives a symmetry-protected electronic metastable state together with a partial melting of the equilibrium charge order. Our time-resolved resonant inelastic x-ray scattering measurements at the upper Hubbard band reveal a collective excitation dispersing from the charge order wave vector up to 0.8 eV with a slope on the order of the quasiparticle velocity. These findings reveal a regime where correlated carriers acquire itinerant character at finite momentum, and charge order becomes dynamically fluctuating, offering a platform to explore light-induced pairing instabilities.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism Organic and Molecular Conductors Research Quantum and electron transport phenomena

Publication details

Journal / source
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Volume
136
Issue
19
Pages
196501–196501
Publication date
15 April 2026
Language
EN