Seminar on nanoscale ultrafast dynamics with THz and x-ray radiation

04 July 2016

PoliFab is pleased to invite you at the seminar:
Understanding ultrafast dynamics at the nanoscale using THz and x-ray radiation

The seminar will be held by Ph.D. Stefano Bonnetti, group leader of the THz Physics group at Stockholm University and former student of Politecnico di Milano.

Venue and date:
Polifab, via Giuseppe Colombo 81 Milano – Room: Zaffiro
Friday, July 8th 2016
From 11:00 to 12:00.

In the past decades, the commercial availability of infrared Ti:sapphire lasers has lead to major breakthroughs in understanding and controlling femtosecond dynamics in condensed matter physics. However, the intrinsic characteristics of these lasers also introduce experimental limitations:
their radiation wavelength, of the order of 1 um, makes it very challenging to achieve nanometer or atomic resolutions, the length scales where fs dynamics naturally take place; their photon energy, of the order of 1 eV, does not allow to selectively pump or probe low-energy excitations, such as magnons or phonons, that are key to understanding and controlling the properties of many materials. Luckily, two novel types of coherent radiation, namely x-rays generated at free electron lasers and broadband THz pulses, have recently become available and they can overcome these limitations. Used in combination with fs infrared lasers, they offer the prospect for exciting scientific investigations at both the temporal and spatial scales relevant to the microscopic world.