Imaging the coherent propagation of collective modes in the excitonic insulator Ta<sub>2</sub>NiSe<sub>5</sub> at room temperature.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34233871.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abd6147 and PMC identifier 8262811.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Excitonic insulators host a condensate of electron-hole pairs at equilibrium, giving rise to collective many-body effects. Although several materials have emerged as excitonic insulator candidates, evidence of long-range coherence is lacking and the origin of the ordered phase in these systems remains controversial. Here, using ultrafast pump-probe microscopy, we investigate the possible excitonic insulator Ta<sub>2</sub>NiSe<sub>5</sub> Below 328 K, we observe the anomalous micrometer-scale propagation of coherent modes at velocities of ~10<sup>5</sup> m/s, which we attribute to the hybridization between phonon modes and the phase mode of the condensate. We develop a theoretical framework to support this explanation and propose that electronic interactions provide a substantial contribution to the ordered phase in Ta<sub>2</sub>NiSe<sub>5</sub> These results allow us to understand how the condensate's collective modes transport energy and interact with other degrees of freedom. Our study provides a unique paradigm for the investigation and manipulation of these properties in strongly correlated materials.