Higgs-Goldstone Ordering from Pulsed Light

Though intense ultrafast optical pulses incident on ordered solids can lead to melting, we show that such pulses can also generate order that persists far longer than the pump time. We present a theory of pulsed light-matter interaction within a broken-symmetry state, showing that dynamical nonlinear coupling between Higgs (amplitude) and Goldstone (phase) modes drives the system into a new order that oscillates in space and in time. Experimental signatures of this spatiotemporal order are presented and compare favorably with measurements on K0.3MnO3; furthermore, we predict Higgs-Goldstone beating where energy is coherently exchanged between these two modes. We also show that this light-generated crystalline state is robust against thermal noise, even when the original Goldstone mode is not . Our results offer a new pathway for the design of periodic structures in materials with ultrafast light pulses.