Ultrafast electron dynamics in the charge density wave material TbTe ₃

Gaining insights into the mechanisms of how order and broken symmetry emerges from many-particle interactions is a major challenge in solid state physics. Most experimental techniques-such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES)-probe the single-particle excitation spectrum and extract information about the ordering mechanism and collective effects, often indirectly through theory. Time-resolved ARPES (tr-ARPES) makes collective dynamics of a system after optical excitation directly visible through their influence on the quasi-particle band structure. Using this technique, we present a systematic study of TbTe3, a metal that exhibits a charge-density wave (CDW) transition. We discuss time-resolved data taken at different positions in the Brillouin zone (BZ) and at different temperatures.