Driven quantum materials

I will discuss how coherent electromagnetic radiation at Tera-Herz frequencies can be used to drive quantum solids periodically, leading to non-equilibrium magnetic, ferroelectric and superconducting phases. These ordering phenomena are sometimes observed at temperatures higher than the thermodynamic transition temperatures, due to induced synchronization between otherwise incoherent fluctuations. I will also discuss how these phenomena can be interrogated, introducing along the way many innovations in experimental methods to study materials physics at the shortest timescales.