arXiv subjects

Igor Vaskivskyi

Publications and source records attributed to Igor Vaskivskyi.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A programmable superconductor created by light

The quest for superconductivity created by light extends for more than half a century, yet direct evidence of a true zero-resistance state - whose macroscopic quantum phase coherence is both created and controlled by light - has remained elusive. Here we report for the first time on a complex but robust light-programmable superconducting (LiPS) state at an aluminium-silicon heterojunction that is created and fully controlled with femtosecond laser pulses. The superconducting critical temperatures - ranging from 1.8 to 8.5 K, can be increased or erased at will by the application of tailored pulse sequences. At low temperatures the LiPS state shows features characteristic of a Berezinski-Kosterlitz-Thouless topological transition, but another distinct state appears at temperatures above 2 K, which shows clear signatures of quantum phase disorder. In the presence of a magnetic field we observe behaviour characteristic of vortex pinning and creep consistent with the 2-dimensional (2D) nature of the phase coherent system. The origin of the LiPS effect is attributed to light pulse control of the Moire-like superlattice of misfit dislocations (MDs) arising from discommensurations between the Al and Si lattices which is visible by high-resolution electron microscopy. We show how light pulses can be used to control the superlattice periodicity and highlight the appearance of topologically protected soliton-like kinks along the dislocation lines, important for imparting controllable metastability to the system. The demonstration of LiPS paves the way for designing metastable superconducting devices with controllable phase-coherence, enabling applications such as light-engineered quantum circuits, local gap tuning in quantum processors, and optically switchable superconducting devices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Real-time imaging of quasiparticle dynamics at a topological defect in an electronic crystal

Defects formed during nonequilibrium self-assembly of quantum matter can dominate its emergent properties. Their macroscopic manifestations are typically characterised as noise, but their internal dynamics remain largely experimentally inaccessible. Making significant advances into the investigation of the microscopic degrees of freedom of such defects, we use fast scanning tunnelling microscopy to resolve, in real time, both internal and global dynamics of a mesoscopic Y-junction defect in an electronic crystal created through self-assembly after a local electromagnetic perturbation. We directly track individual electron rearrangements on millisecond timescales and map spatially localised telegraph noise characteristic of a two-level system. The phase and amplitude of these fluctuations are correlated with the observed charged particle trajectories, revealing a direct connection between collective order-parameter dynamics and microscopic charge motion. We model the dynamics as arising from the interplay of local Coulomb correlations, non-local configurational constraints and hybridised amplitude - phase collective modes bound to the junction. These constraints, together with the non-trivial broken symmetries of the defect, protect long-lived local quasiparticle configurations against external perturbations. Our results establish fast scanning tunnelling microscopy as a means of probing the internal dynamics of metastable quantum defects and reveal how microscopic correlations and collective modes are intertwined within topologically non-trivial structures in electronic crystals.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Nanocryotron-driven Charge Configuration Memristor

Cryo-computing - both classical and quantum, is severely limited by the absence of a suitable cryo-memory. The challenge both in terms of energy efficiency and speed have been known for decades, but so far conventional technologies have not been able to deliver adequate performance. Here we present a novel non-volatile memory device which incorporates a superconducting nanowire and an all-electronic charge configuration memristor (CCM) based on switching between charge-ordered states in a layered dichalcogenide material. We investigate the time-dynamics and current-voltage characteristics of such a device fabricated using a NbTiN nanowire and a 1T-TaS2 CCM. The observed dynamical response of the device is faithfully reproduced by modelling of the superconducting order parameter showing versatility of application. The inherent ultrahigh energy efficiency and speed of the device, which is compatible with single flux quantum logic, leads to a promising new memory concept for use in cryo-computing and quantum computing peripheral devices.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2025

Femtosecond charge and spin dynamics in CoPt alloys

The use of advanced X-ray sources plays a key role in the study of dynamic processes in magnetically ordered materials. The progress in X-ray free electron lasers enables the direct and simultaneous observation of the femtosecond evolution of electron and spin systems through transient X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), respectively. Such experiments allow us to resolve the response seen in the population of the spin-split valence states upon optical excitation. Here, we utilize circularly polarized ultrashort soft X-ray pulses from the new helical afterburner undulator at the free-electron laser FLASH in Hamburg to study the femtosecond dynamics of a laser-excited CoPt alloy at the Co $L_{3}$ absorption edge. Despite employing a weaker electronic excitation level we find a comparable demagnetization for the Co $3d$-states in CoPt compared to previous measurements on CoPd. This is attributed to distinctly different orbital hybridization and spin-orbit coupling between $3d$ and $4d$ vs. $3d$ and $5d$ elements in the corresponding alloys and multilayers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

A high-efficiency programmable modulator for extreme ultraviolet light with nm feature size based on an electronic phase transition

The absence of efficient light modulators for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray photons significantly limits their real-life application, particularly when even slight complexity of the beam patterns is required. Here we report on a novel approach to reversible imprinting of a holographic mask in an electronic Wigner crystal material with a sub-90 nm feature size. The structure is imprinted on a sub-picosecond time-scale using EUV laser pulses and acts as a high-efficiency diffraction grating that deflects EUV or soft X-ray light. The imprinted nanostructure is stable after the removal of the exciting beams at low temperatures but can be easily erased by a single heating beam. Modeling shows that the efficiency of the device can exceed 1%, approaching state-of-the-art etched gratings, but with the benefit of being programmable and tunable over a large range of wavelengths. The observed effect is based on the rapid change of lattice constant upon transition between metastable electronically-ordered phases in a layered transition metal dichalcogenide. The proposed approach is potentially useful for creating tunable light modulators in the EUV and soft X-ray spectral ranges.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Ultra-Efficient Resistance Switching between Charge Ordered Phases in 1T-TaS$_2$ with a Single Picosecond Electrical Pulse

Progress in high-performance computing demands significant advances in memory technology. Among novel memory technologies that promise efficient device operation on a sub-ns timescale, resistance switching between charge ordered phases of the 1T-TaS$_2$ has shown to be potentially useful for the development of high-speed, energy efficient non-volatile memory device. While ultrafast switching was previously reported with optical pulses, determination of the intrinsic speed limits of actual devices that are triggered by electrical pulses is technically challenging and hitherto still largely unexplored. A new optoelectronic laboratory-on-a-chip, designed for measurements of ultrafast memory switching, enables an accurate measurement of the electrical switching parameters with 100 fs temporal resolution. A photoconductive response is used for ultrashort electrical pulse generation, while its propagation along a coplanar transmission line is detected using electro-optical sampling using a purpose-grown highly-resistive electro-optic (Cd,Mn)Te crystal substrate. By combining the transmission line and the 1T-TaS$_2$ device in a single optoelectronic circuit a non-volatile resistance switching with a single 1.9 ps electrical pulse is demonstrated, with an extremely small switching energy density per unit area E$_A$ = 9.4 fJ/$μ$m$^2$. The experiments demonstrate ultrafast, energy-efficient circuits utilizing switching between non-volatile charge-ordered states offers a new technological platform for cryogenic memory devices.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Ultrafast manipulation of the NiO antiferromagnetic order via sub-gap optical excitation

Wide-band-gap insulators such as NiO offer the exciting prospect of coherently manipulating electronic correlations with strong optical fields. Contrary to metals where rapid dephasing of optical excitation via electronic processes occurs, the sub-gap excitation in charge-transfer insulators has been shown to couple to low-energy bosonic excitations. However, it is currently unknown if the bosonic dressing field is composed of phonons or magnons. Here we use the prototypical charge-transfer insulator NiO to demonstrate that 1.5 eV sub-gap optical excitation leads to a renormalised NiO band-gap in combination with a significant reduction of the antiferromagnetic order. We employ element-specific X-ray reflectivity at the FLASH free-electron laser to demonstrate the reduction of the upper band-edge at the O 1s-2p core-valence resonance (K-edge) whereas the antiferromagnetic order is probed via X-ray magnetic linear dichroism (XMLD) at the Ni 2p-3d resonance (L2-edge). Comparing the transient XMLD spectral line shape to ground-state measurements allows us to extract a spin temperature rise of 65 +/- 5 K for time delays longer than 400 fs while at earlier times a non-equilibrium spin state is formed. We identify transient mid-gap states being formed during the first 200 fs accompanied by a band-gap reduction lasting at least up to the maximum measured time delay of 2.4 ps. Electronic structure calculations indicate that magnon excitations significantly contribute to the reduction of the NiO band gap.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Energy efficient manipulation of topologically protected states in non-volatile ultrafast charge configuration memory devices

Non-volatile magnetic storage, from 1940s magnetic core to present day racetrack memory and magnetic anisotropy switching devices rely on the metastability of magnetic domains to store information. However, the inherent inefficiency of converting the information-carrying charge current into magnetization switching sets fundamental limitations in energy consumption. Other non-magnetic non-volatile memories such as memristors, ferroelectric memory and phase change memory devices also rely on energetically relatively costly crystal structural rearrangements to store information. In contrast, conventional electronic charge states in quantum dots for example, can be switched in femtoseconds with high efficiency, but any stored information dissipates rapidly. Here we present a radically different approach in the form of a charge-configuration memory (CCM) device that relies on charge-injection-driven electronic crystal melting and topological protection of the resulting electronic domain configurations of a two-dimensional electronic crystal to store information. With multiprobe scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) we show microscopically, within an operational device, how dislocations in the domain ordering lead to metastability by a mechanism that is topologically equivalent to magnetic bubble memory. The devices have a very small switching energy (<2.2 fJ/bit), ultrafast switching speed of <11 ps and operational range over more than 3 orders of magnitude in temperature (<250 mK ~ 190 K). Together with their simple functionality, a large resistance switching ratio, straightforward fabrication and impressive endurance, CCM devices introduce a new memory paradigm in emerging cryo-computing and other high-performance computing applications that require ultrahigh speed and low energy consumption.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Quantum billiards with correlated electrons confined in triangular transition metal dichalcogenide monolayer nanostructures created by laser quench

Forcing systems though fast non-equilibrium phase transitions offers the opportunity to study new states of quantum matter that self-assemble in their wake. Here we study the quantum interference effects of correlated electrons confined in monolayer quantum nanostructures, created by femtosecond laser-induced quench through a first-order polytype structural transition in a layered transition-metal dichalcogenide material. Scanning tunnelling microscopy of the electrons confined within equilateral triangles, whose dimensions are a few crystal unit cells on the side, reveals that the trajectories are strongly modified from free-electron states both by electronic correlations and confinement. Comparison of experiments with theoretical predictions of strongly correlated electron behaviour reveals that the confining geometry destabilizes the Wigner/Mott crystal ground state, resulting in mixed itinerant and correlation-localized states intertwined on a length scale of 1 nm. Occasionally, itinerant-electron states appear to follow quantum interferences which are suggestive of classical trajectories (quantum scars). The work opens the path toward understanding the quantum transport of electrons confined in atomic-scale monolayer structures based on correlated-electron-materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

A time-domain phase diagram of metastable states in a charge ordered quantum material

Metastable self-organized electronic states in quantum materials are of fundamental importance, displaying emergent dynamical properties that may be used in new generations of sensors and memory devices. Such states are typically formed through phase transitions under non-equilibrium conditions and the final state is reached through processes that span a large range of timescales. By using time-resolved optical techniques and femtosecond-pulse-excited scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), the evolution of the metastable states in the quasi-two-dimensional dichalcogenide 1T-TaS2 is mapped out on a temporal phase diagram using the photon density and temperature as control parameters on timescales ranging from 10^(-12) to 10^3 s. The introduction of a time-domain axis in the phase diagram enables us to follow the evolution of metastable emergent states created by different phase transition mechanisms on different timescales, thus enabling comparison with theoretical predictions of the phase diagram and opening the way to understanding of the complex ordering processes in metastable materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Intertwined chiral charge orders and topological stabilization of the light-induced state of a prototypical transition metal dichalcogenide

The fundamental idea that the constituents of interacting many body systems in complex quantum materials may self-organise into long range order under highly non-equilibrium conditions leads to the notion that entirely new and unexpected functionalities might be artificially created. However, demonstrating new emergent order in highly non-equilibrium transitions has proven surprisingly difficult. In spite of huge recent advances in experimental ultrafast time-resolved techniques, methods that average over successive transition outcomes have so far proved incapable of elucidating the emerging spatial structure. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy, we report for the first time the charge order emerging after a single transition outcome in a prototypical two-dimensional dichalcogenide 1T-TaS$_2$ initiated by a single optical pulse. By mapping the vector field of charge displacements of the emergent state, we find surprisingly intricate, long-range, topologically non-trivial charge order in which chiral domain tiling is intertwined with unique unpaired dislocations which play a crucial role in enhancing the emergent states remarkable stability. The discovery of the principles that lead to metastability in charge-ordered systems open the way to designing novel emergent functionalities, particularly ultrafast all-electronic non-volatile cryo-memories.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Theoretical Modeling of the Non-equilibrium Amorphous State in 1T-TaS$_2$

1T-TaS$_2$ is known for it's remarkably complex phase diagram and it's unique long-lived metastable hidden (H) state. Recently, a novel metastable state has been discovered using higher fluences for photoexcitation than in the case of the H state. The state has been dubbed as amorphous (A) due to it's similarity to glass. Expanding on the work of Brazovskii and Karpov, we show that the A state can be successfully modelled with classical interacting polarons on a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. We have found that the polaron configuration of the A state corresponds to a frustrated screened Coulomb system, where there is no order-disorder phase transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Ultrafast jamming of electrons into an amorphous entangled state

New emergent states of matter in quantum systems may be created under non-equilibrium conditions if - through many body interactions - its constituents order on a timescale which is shorter than the time required for the system to reach thermal equilibrium. Conventionally non-equilibrium ordering is discussed in terms of symmetry breaking, nonthermal order-disorder, and more recently quenched topological transitions. Here we report a fundamentally new and unusual metastable form of amorphous correlation-localized fermionic matter, which is formed in a new type of quantum transition at low temperature either by short pulse photoexcitation or by electrical charge injection in the transition metal dichalcogenide 1T-TaS2. Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) reveals a pseudo-amorphous packing of localized electrons within the crystal lattice that is significantly denser than its hexagonally ordered low-temperature ground state, or any other ordered states of the system. Remarkably, the arrangement is not random, but displays a hyperuniform spatial density distribution commonly encountered in classical jammed systems, showing no signs of aggregation or phase separation. Unexpectedly for a localized electron system, tunnelling spectroscopy and multi- STM-tip surface resistance measurements reveal that the overall state is gapless and conducting, which implies that localized and itinerant carriers are resonantly entangled. The amorphous localized electron subsystem can be understood theoretically to arise from strong correlations between polarons sparsely dispersed on a 2D hexagonal atomic lattice, while itinerant carriers act as a resonantly coupled reservoir distinct in momentum space.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Real-time observation of the coherent transition to a metastable emergent state in 1T-TaS$_2$

The transition to a hidden metastable state in 1T-TaS2 is investigated in real time using coherent time-resolved femtosecond spectroscopy. Relying on spectral differences between phonon modes in the equilibrium states and in the metastable state, and temperature-tuning the metastable state lifetime, we perform stroboscopic measurements of the electronic response and switching of coherent oscillation frequency through the transition. Very fast coherent switching of the collective mode frequency is observed (400 fs), comparable to the electronic timescale (300 fs). A slower, 4.7 ps process is attributed to lattice relaxation. The observations are described well by a fast electronic band structure transformation into the metastable state, consistent with a topological transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Three-dimensional resistivity switching between correlated electronic states in 1T-TaS2

Recent demonstrations of controlled switching between different ordered macroscopic states by impulsive electromagnetic perturbations in complex materials have opened some fundamental questions on the mechanisms responsible for such remarkable behavior. Here we experimentally address the question of whether two-dimensional (2D) Mott physics can be responsible for unusual switching between states of different electronic order in the layered dichalcogenide 1T-TaS2, or it is a result of subtle inter-layer orbitronic re-ordering of its helical stacking structure. We report on the switching properties both in-plane and perpendicular to the layers by current-pulse injection, the anisotropy of electronic transport in the commensurate ground state, and relaxation properties of the switched metastable state. Contrary to recent theoretical calculations, which predict a uni-directional metal perpendicular to the layers, we observe a large resistivity in this direction, with a temperature-dependent anisotropy. Remarkably, large resistance ratios are observed in the memristive switching both in-plane (IP) and out-of-plane (OP). The relaxation dynamics of the metastable state for both IP and OP electron transport are seemingly governed by the same mesoscopic quantum re-ordering process. We conclude that 1T-TaS2 shows resistance switching arising from an interplay of both IP and OP correlations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

The effect of strain on the thawing of the hidden state and other transitions in 1T-TaS2

We investigate the effect of 2-dimensional (in-plane) strain on the critical transition temperature TH from the photoexcited hidden state in 1T-TaS$_2$ thin films on different substrates. We also measure the effect of in-plane strain on the transition temperature $T_{c2}$ between the nearly commensurate charge-density wave state and the commensurate state near 200 K. In each case, the strain is caused by the differential contraction of the sample and the substrate, and ranges from 0.5 % compressive strain (CaF$_2$) to 2 % tensile strain (sapphire). Strain appears to have an opposite effect on the H state and the NC-C state transitions. TH shows a large and negative strain coefficient of dT$_H$/de = - 8900+/-500 K, while $T_{c2}$ is not strongly affected by tensile strain and shows a positive coefficient for compressive strain, which is opposite to the effect observed for hydrostatic pressure.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗