Quantum materials exhibit fascinating and desirable properties, such as high temperature superconductivity, but are challenging to understand. They are complex systems in which multiple degrees of freedom compete to dictate the material’s properties These interactions both make it difficult to understand what drives the emergence of specific properties, but also opens new routes to control their properties.

Our research group exploits the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from THz radiation up to hard X-rays to manipulate and measure the properties of quantum materials. We are particularly interested in how lights can perturb and induce symmetry changes in quantum materials, and how these can be used to manipulate the properties of quantum materials. We do this with a range of lab-based ultrafast optical methods to track materials on timescale of a few femtoseconds and in addition, we exploit newly emerging X-ray lasers to capture atomic and nanoscopic changes in materials with light.