Formation of spatial patterns by spin-selective excitations of interacting fermions

We describe the formation of charge- and spin-density patterns induced by spin-selective photoexcitations of interacting fermionic systems in the presence of a microstructure. As an example, we consider a one-dimensional Hubbard-like system with a periodic magnetic microstructure, which has a uniform charge distribution in its ground state, and in which a long-lived charge-density pattern is induced by the spin-selective photoexcitation. Using tensor-network methods, we study the full quantum dynamics in the presence of electron-electron interactions and identify doublons as the main decay channel for the induced charge pattern. Our setup is compared to the optically induced spin transfer (OISTR) mechanism, in which ultrafast optically induced spin transfer in Heusler and magnetic compounds is associated to the difference of the local density of states of the different elements in the alloys. We find that applying a spin-selective excitation there induces spatially periodic patterns in local observables. Implications for pump-probe experiments on correlated materials and experiments with ultracold gases on optical lattices are discussed.