Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids Talk: Light Interactions With Matter, The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Advances in our understanding and exploitation of light interactions with matter have been reported at an inspiring pace in recent years. In the study of solids, new methods at every frequency range from microwaves to x-rays have provided improved access to and control over every type of mode including those of thermal, mechanical, vibrational, electronic, and spin degrees of freedom. A brief survey of recent results spanning a wide spectral range will be followed by a discussion of terahertz field interactions with collective electronic states, optical phonons, and magnons, including highly nonlinear responses such as THz-induced electroluminescence, colossal Stark shifts, and electronic/structural phase transitions and including two-dimensional THz spectroscopy of magnons. New results with THz phonon-polaritons and magnon-polaritons will also be presented.