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

Abstract

Nonequilibrium phase transition provides important insights in quantum materials, but it is challenging to track. Here, Zhou et al. capture the entire course of a laser-driven transient phase transition from a stripe order to bi-directional state in a charge-density wave material CeTe3, unveiling hidden symmetry-breaking energy landscape in nonequilibrium.