Nonequilibrium dynamics of spontaneous symmetry breaking into a hidden state of charge-density wave

Abstract

Nonequilibrium phase transition plays a pivotal role in a broad physical context from condensed matter to cosmology. Tracking the formation of non-equilibrium phases in condensed matter is challenging and requires a resolution of the long-range cooperativity on ultra-short timescales. Here, we study the spontaneous symmetry breaking transformation of a charge-density wave system from a stripe phase into a checkerboard state. Such a state is thermodynamically forbidden, but is introduced through a system quench using ultrashort, intense laser pulses. The dynamics is mediated by the soft modes that unfold spontaneously and order the field on a timescale ~1 ps. Using the coherent electron diffraction with ~100 fs resolution, we capture the entire course and demonstrate nonergodic behavior proximal to symmetry breaking that is crucial for stabilizing the hidden states. Remarkably, the thermalization due to carriers cooling arrests the remnants of the transient orders into the topological defects in the eventual state with distinct new properties that last for more than 1 ns. The fundamental dynamics observed here opens an intriguing perspective of controlling phase transitions in quantum materials far from equilibrium.