We bring together two topics that, until now, have been the focus of intense but non-overlapping research efforts. The first concerns high-harmonic generation in solids, which occurs when an intense light field excites a highly non-equilibrium electronic response in a semiconductor or a dielectric. The second concerns many-body dynamics in strongly correlated systems such as the Mott insulator. We show that high-harmonic generation can be used to time-resolve ultrafast many-body dynamics associated with an optically driven phase transition, with accuracy far exceeding one cycle of the driving light field. Our work paves the way for time-resolving highly non-equilibrium many-body dynamics in strongly correlated systems, with few femtosecond accuracy.

到目前为止，我们已经集中了两个主题，这两个主题一直是密集但不重叠的研究工作的重点。第一个问题涉及固体中的高谐波产生，当强光场激发半导体或电介质中高度不平衡的电子响应时，会发生这种情况。第二个问题涉及强关联系统（例如Mott绝缘子）中的多体动力学。我们表明，高谐波产生可用于时间分辨与光驱动相变相关的超快多体动力学，其精度远远超过驱动光场的一个周期。我们的工作为在强相关系统中解决飞秒高度不平衡的高度非平衡多体动力学铺平了道路。