Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 8: Ultra-fast Phenomena I
HL 8.11: Talk
Monday, March 9, 2026, 17:45–18:00, POT/0006
Photostriction-Driven Phase Transition in Layered Chiral NbOX2 Crystals: Electrical-Field-Controlled Enantiomer Selectivity — •Jorge Cardenas-Gamboa1, Martin Gutierrez-Amigo2, Aritz Leonardo3, Gregory A. Fiete4, Juan L. Mañes3, Jeroen van den Brink1, Claudia Felser5, and Maia G. Vergionry3 — 1Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, IFW Dresden — 2Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University — 3Donostia International Physics Center — 4Northeastern University, Boston — 5Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
Controlling the handedness of crystal structures is essential for developing next-generation optical, electronic, and information technologies. Yet, achieving reversible and selective control over crystal chirality remains a major challenge. In this work, we demonstrate a two-step pathway for enantiomer selectivity in layered chiral NbOX2 (X = Cl, Br, I) crystals based on photostriction-driven phase transitions. Ab-initio simulations reveal that optical excitation is capable of inducing a structural phase transition in NbOX2 from the monoclinic (C2) ground state to the higher-symmetry (C2/m) structure. In the resulting transient high-symmetry state, an applied electric field breaks the residual inversion-symmetry degeneracy, selectively stabilizing one enantiomeric final state configuration over the other. Our results establish a combined optical-electrical control scheme for chiral materials, enabling reversible and non-contact enantiomer selection with potential applications in ultrafast switching, optoelectronics, and chiral information storage.
Keywords: Photoinduced Phase Transition; Structural Chirality; Electric-Field Symmetry Breaking; Light-Matter Interaction