Topological states caught in the act

Topological states of matter hold tremendous promise for potential applications in quantum technologies. The creation and control of such states on demand with short flashes of light is currently under intense investigation.

Now an international collaboration of researchers involving a theory team at the MPSD has shown that short-lived topological states can be tracked with equally short light flashes spiraling like a corkscrew (Physical Review X, "How Circular Dichroism in Time- and Angle-Resolved Photoemission Can Be Used to Spectroscopically Detect Transient Topological States in Graphene").