Events at Physics |
Events on Thursday, March 5th, 2026
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- Dynamical breaking of inversion symmetry, strong second harmonic generation, and ferroelectricity with nonlinear phonons
- Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Egor Kiselev , MPIPKS
- Abstract: I will show how crystalline inversion symmetry can be dynamically broken by optical phonons with generic, hardening Kerr-like non-linearities. The symmetry-broken state is reached through a dynamical phase transition that can be accessed by driving close to half the phonon resonance. After going through an instability, the system settles to a steady state with inversion-symmetry breaking phonon trajectories and strong second harmonic generation. The time averaged positions of the atoms are displaced relative to equilibrium, resulting in a rectification of the driving signal. This leads to a dynamical dipolar, ferroelectric response that shows features like hysteresis and memory effects, known from equilibrium ferroelectrics.
- Host: Elio König
- Astronomy Colloquium
- TBD
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Director Julianne Dalcanton, Flatiron Institute/CCA
- Abstract: TBD
- Host: Michael Maseda