
Ultrafast Dynamics in Quantum Solids
Prof. Dr. Simon Wall
- Activities:
Ultrafast Dynamics of Quantum Solids (UDQS) investigates the properties of materials, such as high temperature superconductors, through their non-equilibrium electron, lattice and spin dynamics on femtosecond timescales (1x10-15s) and nanoscale length scales (1x10-9m). To do this we combine cutting edge optical experiments based at ICFO with X-ray techniques performed at scientific facilities around the world.
- Research Topics:
- Phonons In Quantum Materials
- Spins In Quantum Materials
- Nanoscale X-ray Holographic Imaging
- Links:
- Group Homepage
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Ultrafast Dynamics in Quantum Solids
Prof. Dr. Simon Wall


- Group Leader
- Prof. Dr. Simon Wall
- Postdoctoral Researchers
- Dr. Allan Johnson
- Dr. Elías Martínez Moreno
- Dr. Alberto Ramos Álvarez
- PhD Students
- Emmanuel Amuah
- Hamidreza Fayaz Movahed
- Nina Fleischmann
- David Moreno Mencía
- Daniel Pérez Salinas
- Luciana Vidas
- Former Group Members
- Timothy Alan Miller, Postdoctoral researcher
- Graciana Puentes, Research fellow
- Vera Giulia Sala, Postdoctoral researcher
- Daniel Schick, Visiting scientist
- Daniel Wegkamp, Postdoctoral researcher
Ultrafast Dynamics in Quantum Solids
Prof. Dr. Simon Wall

- Regular Papers
- Ultrafast disordering of vanadium dimers in photoexcited VO2 Science 362, 572-576 (2018)
- Imaging nanometer phase coexistence at defects during the insulator-metal phase transformation in VO2 thin films by resonant soft X-Ray hol Nano Lett. 18, 3449-3453 (2018)
- Light control of orbital domains: case of the prototypical manganite La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 Phys. Scripta 91, 124002 (2016)
- Resonant optical control of the structural distortions that drive ultrafast demagnetization in Cr2O3 Phys. Rev. B 94, 014430 (2016)
- Ultrafast optical response of the amorphous and crystalline states of the phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5 Phys. Rev. B 94, 024301 (2016)
- Strain-engineered diffusive atomic switching in two-dimensional crystals Nature Commun. 7, 11983 (2016)
- Ultrafast energy- and momentum-resolved dynamics of magnetic correlations in the photo-doped Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 Nature Mater. 15, 601-605 (2016)
- Ultrafast and broadband tuning of resonant optical nanostructures using phase-change materials Adv. Opt. Mater. 4, 1060-1066 (2016)
- High-field high-repetition-rate sources for the coherent THz control of matter Sci. Rep. 6, 22256 (2016)
- Sub-nanometre resolution of atomic motion during electronic excitation in phase-change materials Sci. Rep. 6, 20633 (2016)
- Terahertz field control of in-plane orbital order in La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 Nature Commun. 6, 8175 (2015)
- Time-domain separation of optical properties from structural transitions in resonantly bonded materials Nature Mater. 14, 991-995 (2015)
- Witnessing the formation and relaxation of dressed quasi-particles in a strongly correlated electron system Nature Commun. 5, 5112 (2014)
- Entanglement engineering and topological protection by discrete-time quantum walks J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46, 104005 (2013) Highlighted in J. Phys. B Labtalk
- Tracking the evolution of electronic and structural properties of vanadium dioxide during the ultrafast photoinduced insulator-metal transition Phys. Rev. B 87, 115126 (2013)
- Articles in Magazines
- Recent developments in ultrafast X-ray techniques for materials science applications Synchrotron Radiat. News 29, 13-18 (2016)
Ultrafast Dynamics in Quantum Solids
Prof. Dr. Simon Wall

- 2018-11-05 Disorder plays a key role in phase transitions of materials Study published in Science provides a new perspective on how to control matter.
- 2018-05-25 Insulator-metal transition at the nanoscale An international team of researchers is able to probe the insulator-conductor phase transition of materials at the nanoscale resolution.
- 2017-09-06 ERC Starting Grant Awarded to Prof Simon Wall Starting Grant funding supports young researchers to establish themselves as independent research leaders.
- 2016-06-22 Engineering 2D materials A team of researchers has been able to engineer the strain in 2D materials to manipulate their function as well as their electronic and optical properties.
- 2016-05-09 Watching nano-scale magnetic spin waves An international team of researchers is able to reveal the dynamics of atomic spins using ultra-fast X-ray lasers.
- 2015-09-18 Controlling material properties THz pulses reveal driving force for orbital order in correlated solids.
- 2015-07-28 Controlling Phase Changes in solids A recent study demonstrates the rapid control of phase-changes in resonantly bonded materials
- 2014-10-13 The elusive physics of high temperature superconductors Witnessing the formation and relaxation of dressed quasi-particles in a strongly correlated electron system.
- 2012-09-10 New Junior Group Leader ICFO is happy to announce the arrival of new Nest Fellow, Dr. Simon Wall.