Perry and van der Veen will study the interaction of light with defect dynamics in mixed conductors. This class of materials finds applications in solid-state batteries, fuel cells, electrolysis cells, gas separation membranes, photovoltaic cells, and reactors for chemical fuel synthesis. The goal is to develop mechanistic insight into these interactions by studying the process at multiple length and time scales, in realistic temperature and gas environments.

A grand challenge in the field of ultrafast manipulation of magnetism is to coherently switch magnetic order in materials at THz speeds. Directly coupling an intense THz wave to a material of interest is a promising approach yet challenging since this requires THz waves with extremely large field strengths. To address this, new magnetic materials that can be switched at lower fields need to be synthesized and studied. Moreover, new heterostructures involving metallic antennas are required that can potentially enhance THz field strengths.