Our group studies the creation of ultrafast flashes of light (the source side) and the interaction of this ultrafast light with matter (the detector side) using a variety of numerical and analytic methods. One topic of interest involves high harmonic generation in quantum matter. The interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with condensed matter systems provides a unique perspective of strong field phenomena, such as tunnel ionization or high harmonic generation (HHG), which historically have only been investigated in atomic gas. We are interested in how HHG can be used to probe correlated electron dynamics (such as dublon production in Mott insulators), reconstruct Berry curvature, investigate topological phase transitions, or extract high-order nonlinear susceptibility of materials. Whenever possible, we collaborate with experimental groups, which use ultrashort mid-IR light sources to drive non-perturbative electronic dynamics in crystals. The aim is to both understand strongly nonlinear electronic response and create new light sources in the UV and XUV.

Recently, we turned our attention to creation of entangled XUV light sources using HHG from quantum materials and molecules interacting with nonclassical light, with applications to photonic integrated circuits for quantum computing.