About

Michael W. Zuerch is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, since 2025, having previously served as an Assistant Professor from 2019 to 2025. He is also a Faculty Scientist in the Materials Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2020. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Physics from FSU Jena in 2014 and a Diploma in Physics from the same institution in 2010. Zuerch has held positions such as Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society from 2018 to 2019 and Independent Junior Research Group Leader at FSU Jena in 2018. His postdoctoral work was conducted at UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry between 2015 and 2017. Professor Zuerch's research focuses on experimentally exploring structural, carrier, and spin dynamics in novel quantum materials, heterostructures, surfaces, and interfaces to address questions in materials science and physical chemistry. He employs multidisciplinary approaches that combine ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy and nanoimaging, developing novel nonlinear X-ray spectroscopies and utilizing state-of-the-art methods at large-scale facilities. His work aims to study and control material properties on sub-femtosecond time scales and nanometer length scales, with applications in quantum electronics, information storage, and solar energy conversion. His contributions have been recognized through awards such as the W. M. Keck Foundation Science and Engineering Research Award, the Fresnel Prize by the European Physical Society, the Hellman Fellow award, the DOE Early Career Award, and the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize.

Research topics

• Physics
• Quantum mechanics
• Optics
• Materials science
• Nanotechnology
• Molecular physics
• Condensed matter physics
• Atomic physics
• Chemistry
• Chemical physics

Selected publications

• Photoinduced correlations in stochastic dynamics of a solid-state ionic conductor

  Nature Communications · 2026-05-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Photoexcitation by ultrashort laser pulses plays a crucial role in controlling reaction pathways, creating nonequilibrium material properties, and probing complex molecular dynamics. The photoresponse following a laser pulse is generally nonidentical between exposures due to spatiotemporal fluctuations or the stochastic nature of dynamical pathways. However, most ultrafast pump-probe experiments struggle to distinguish intrinsic sample fluctuations from extrinsic apparatus noise, often missing deviations from the averaged response. Leveraging the stability and high photon flux of time-resolved X-ray micro-diffraction at a synchrotron, we characterized stochastic photoinduced dynamics in a solid-state ionic conductor. By analyzing temporal evolutions of the lattice parameter of a single grain, we found that shot-to-shot fluctuations are not independent. Instead, correlations exist between nonequilibrium lattice trajectories following adjacent shots, with a characteristic correlation length of approximately 1500 shots, corresponding to an energy barrier of 0.4 ± 0.1 eV, close to the activation energy of lithium-ion diffusion.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Isostructural electronic transition in MoS ₂ probed by solid-state high-harmonic generation spectroscopy

  Science Advances · 2026-03-18

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Studying materials under extreme pressure in diamond anvil cells (DACs) is key to discovering emergent states of matter, yet no method currently allows the direct measurement of the electronic structure in this environment. Solid-state high-harmonic generation (sHHG) offers a unique all-optical window into the electronic structure of materials. We demonstrate sHHG spectroscopy inside a DAC by probing 2H-MoS 2 , up to 30 GPa, revealing a pressure-induced crossover of the lowest direct bandgap from the K -point to the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Γ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -point. This transition manifests as a sharp minimum in harmonic intensity and a 30° rotation of the sHHG polarization anisotropy, despite the absence of a structural phase change. First-principles simulations attribute these features to interference between competing excitation pathways at distinct points in the Brillouin zone. Our results establish sHHG as a sensitive probe of electronic transitions at high pressure, enabling access to quantum phenomena that evade detection by conventional techniques.

  PublisherDOI

• Strong Field Spectroscopy of Many-Body Interactions in Solids

  Research Square · 2026-02-19

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Data for: Photoinduced correlations in stochastic dynamics of a solid-state ionic conductor

  Open MIND · 2026-03-19

  datasetOpen access

  Photoexcitation by ultrashort laser pulses plays a crucial role in controlling reaction pathways, creating nonequilibrium material properties, and offering a microscopic view of complex dynamics at the molecular level. The photo response following a laser pulse is, in general, non-identical between multiple exposures due to spatiotemporal fluctuations in a material or the stochastic nature of dynamical pathways. However, most ultrafast experiments using a stroboscopic pump-probe scheme struggle to distinguish intrinsic sample fluctuations from extrinsic apparatus noise, often missing seemingly random deviations from the averaged shot-to-shot response. Leveraging the stability and high photon flux of time-resolved X-ray micro-diffraction at a synchrotron, we employed established statistical tools to quantitatively characterize the stochastic behavior of the photoinduced dynamics in a solid-state electrolyte. By analyzing temporal evolutions of the lattice parameter of a single grain in a powder ensemble, we found that the sample responses after different shots contain random fluctuations that are, however, not independent. Instead, there is a correlation between the nonequilibrium lattice trajectories following adjacent laser shots with a characteristic correlation length of approximately 1,500 shots, which represents an energy barrier of 0.4 eV for switching the photoinduced pathway, a value that is close to the activation energy of lithium ion diffusion. Not only does our nonequilibrium noise correlation spectroscopy provide insights for studying fluctuations that are central to phase transitions in both condensed matter and molecular systems, but it also paves the way for discovering novel metastable states buried in oft-presumed random, uncorrelated fluctuating dynamics.

  PublisherDOI

• Surface structure of water from soft X-ray second harmonic generation

  Nature Communications · 2025-11-26 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  The microscopic structure of water's surface is crucial to many natural and industrial processes, but studying its hydrogen bond (H-bond) network directly remains challenging due to the required interfacial sensitivity of experimental techniques. By leveraging advances in flat liquid sheet microjets and terawatt-scale attosecond soft X-ray pulses from the LCLS X-ray free electron laser, we employed soft X-ray second harmonic generation (SXSHG) spectroscopy to examine the liquid water/vapor interface. SXSHG combines the elemental selectivity of X-ray spectroscopies with the surface selectivity of SHG and gives access to the electronic structure of interfacial species. Here, we show the SXSHG spectrum differs from bulk water's X-ray absorption, with its peak shifted several eV, indicating a vastly different electronic environment at the interface as compared to the bulk. First-principles electronic structure calculations show the signal is highly sensitive to H-bond interactions, such as water molecules accepting a single H-bond, which are surface abundant.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Isostructural electronic transition in MoS$_2$ probed by solid-state high harmonic generation spectroscopy

  ArXiv.org · 2025-06-17

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Studying materials under extreme pressure in diamond anvil cells (DACs) is key to discovering new states of matter, yet no method currently allows the direct measurement of the electronic structure in this environment. Solid-state high harmonic generation (sHHG) offers a new all-optical window into the electronic structure of materials. We demonstrate sHHG spectroscopy inside a DAC by probing $2H$-MoS$_2$, up to 30 GPa, revealing a pressure-induced crossover of the lowest direct bandgap from the $\textbf{K}$-point to the $Γ$-point. This transition manifests as a sharp minimum in harmonic intensity and a 30° rotation of the sHHG polarization anisotropy, despite the absence of a structural phase change. First-principles simulations attribute these features to interference between competing excitation pathways at distinct points in the Brillouin zone. Our results establish sHHG as a sensitive probe of electronic transitions at high pressure, enabling access to quantum phenomena that evade detection by conventional techniques.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Dynamical Role of Optical Phonons and Sublattice Screening in a Solid-State Ion Conductor

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-07-17 · 3 citations

  article

  Solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) require ionic conductivities that are competitive with liquid electrolytes to realize applications in all-solid-state batteries. Although candidate SSEs have been discovered, the underlying mechanisms enabling superionic conduction (>1 mS cm–1) remain elusive. In particular, the role of ultrafast lattice dynamics in mediating ion migration, which involves couplings between ions, phonons, and electrons, is rarely explored experimentally at their corresponding time scales. To investigate the complex contributions of coupled lattice dynamics on ion migration, we modulate the charge density occupations within the crystal framework and then measure the time-resolved change in impedance on picosecond time scales for a candidate SSE, Li0.5La0.5TiO3 (LLTO). Upon perturbation, we observe enhanced ion migration at ultrafast time scales. The respective transients match the time scales of optical and acoustic phonon vibrations, suggesting their involvement in ion migration. We further computationally evaluate the effect of a charge transfer from the O 2p to the Ti 3d band on the electronic and physical structure of LLTO. We hypothesize that the charge-transfer excitation distorts the TiO6 polyhedra by altering the local charge density occupancy of the hopping site at the migration pathway saddle point, thereby causing a reduction in the migration barrier for the Li+ hop. We rule out the contribution of photogenerated electron carriers and laser heating. Overall, our investigation introduces a new spectroscopic tool to probe fundamental ion hopping mechanisms transiently at ultrafast time scales, which has previously only been achieved in a time-averaged manner or solely via computational methods.

  PublisherDOI

• Core-level signature of long-range density-wave order and short-range excitonic correlations probed by attosecond broadband spectroscopy

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-06-30

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Advances in attosecond core-level spectroscopies have successfully unlocked the fastest dynamics involving high-energy electrons. Yet, these techniques are not conventionally regarded as an appropriate probe for low-energy quasiparticle interactions that govern the ground state of quantum materials, nor for studying long-range order because of their limited sensitivity to local charge environments. Here, by employing a unique cryogenic attosecond beamline, we identified clear core-level signatures of long-range charge-density-wave (CDW) formation in a quasi-2D excitonic insulator candidate, even though equilibrium photoemission and absorption measurements of the same core levels showed no spectroscopic singularity at the phase transition. Leveraging the high time resolution and intrinsic sensitivity to short-range charge excitations in attosecond core-level absorption, we observed compelling time-domain evidence for excitonic correlations in the normal-state of the material, whose presence has been subjected to a long-standing debate in equilibrium experiments because of interfering phonon fluctuations in a similar part of the phase space. Our findings support the scenario that short-range excitonic fluctuations prelude long-range order formation in the ground state, providing important insights in the mechanism of exciton condensation in a quasi-low-dimensional system. These results further demonstrate the importance of a simultaneous access to long- and short-range order with underlying dynamical processes spanning a multitude of time- and energy-scales, making attosecond spectroscopy an indispensable tool for both understanding the equilibrium phase diagram and for discovering novel, nonequilibrium states in strongly correlated materials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Spin Dynamics across Metallic Layers on the Few-Femtosecond Timescale

  Physical Review Letters · 2024-09-06 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  We measure the light-driven response of a magnetic multilayer structure made of thin alternating layers of cobalt and platinum at the few-femtosecond timescale. Using attosecond magnetic circular dichroism, we observe how light rearranges the magnetic moment during and after excitation. The results reveal a sub-5 fs spike of magnetization in the platinum layer, which follows the shape of the driving pulse. With the help of time-dependent density functional theory, we interpret the observations as light-driven spin injection across the metallic layers of the structure. The light-triggered spin current is strikingly short, largely outpacing decoherence and dephasing. The findings suggest that the ability of shaping light fields in refined ways could be translated into shaping new forms of spin currents in materials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Electron Transfer Dynamics at Dye-Sensitized SnO ₂ /TiO ₂ Core/Shell Electrodes in Aqueous/Nonaqueous Electrolyte Mixtures

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2024-06-20 · 8 citations

  article

  The dynamics of photoinduced electron transfer were measured at dye-sensitized photoanodes in aqueous (acetate buffer), nonaqueous (acetonitrile), and mixed solvent electrolytes by nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) and ultrafast optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy (OPTP). Higher injection efficiencies were found in mixed solvent electrolytes for dye-sensitized SnO2/TiO2 core/shell electrodes, whereas the injection efficiency of dye-sensitized TiO2 electrodes decreased with the increasing acetonitrile concentration. The trend in injection efficiency for the TiO2 electrodes was consistent with the solvent-dependent trend in the semiconductor flat band potential. Photoinduced electron injection in core/shell electrodes has been understood as a two-step process involving ultrafast electron trapping in the TiO2 shell followed by slower electron transfer to the SnO2 core. The driving force for shell-to-core electron transfer increases as the flat band potential of TiO2 shifts negatively with increasing concentrations of acetonitrile. In acetonitrile-rich electrolytes, electron injection is suppressed due to the very negative flat band potential of the TiO2 shell. Interestingly, a net negative photoconductivity in the SnO2 core is observed in mixed solvent electrolytes by OPTP. We hypothesize that an electric field is formed across the TiO2 shell from the oxidized dye molecules after injection. Conduction band electrons in SnO2 are trapped at the core/shell interface by the electric field, resulting in a negative photoconductivity transient. The overall electron injection efficiency of the dye-sensitized SnO2/TiO2 core/shell photoanodes is optimized in mixed solvents. The ultrafast transient conductivity data illustrate the crucial role of the electrolyte in regulating the driving forces for electron injection and charge separation at dye-sensitized semiconductor interfaces.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Investigation of Nonequilibrium States and Photoinduced Transitions in Topological Superlattices

  NSF · $700k · 2023–2027

Frequent coauthors

• Walter S. Drisdell

  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  47 shared

• Can Berk Uzundal

  39 shared

• Christian Spielmann

  Friedrich Schiller University Jena

  36 shared

• Alfred Zong

  32 shared

• Stephen R. Leone

  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  31 shared

• Emma Berger

  University of California, Berkeley

  31 shared

• Kensuke Tono

  Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute

  30 shared

• Makina Yabashi

  30 shared

Education

• Post-doc, Chemistry Department

  University of California Berkeley

  2017

• Dr. rer. nat

  Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  2014

• Dipl.-Phys. (Master of Science equivalent)

  Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  2010

Awards & honors

• W. M. Keck Foundation Science and Engineering Research Award…
• Fresnel Prize by European Physical Society (2021)
• Hellman Fellow (2021)
• DOE Early Career Award (2023)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize (2025)