Materials: Tickle individual molecules
A new approach to triggering change in the electronic state of a solid material. Matteo Rini and colleagues report that ultrafast pulses of terahertz radiation can be used to 'tickle' individual molecules. This alone is sufficient to drive the material from a stable insulating phase to a metastable, conducting one.

There are various subtle ways of changing the electronic state in a solid: for example, a pulse of light or electrical current can be used to inject 'hot' charges that change the electronic state of the system under investigation. The team use a different approach and show that, with strongly correlated electrons, even subtle changes in the crystal structure can have a profound effect on the properties of the material.

CONTACT

Matteo Rini (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA)

Tel: +1 510 486 6558; E-mail: MRini@lbl.gov