Time-resolved ARPES spectra of nonequilibrium excitonic insulators: revealing macroscopic coherence with ultrashort pulses

The nonequilibrium (NEQ) excitonic-insulator (EI) phase is a dynamical state of matter for excited insulators or semiconductors, and it is characterized by self-sustained coherent oscillations of the excitonic condensate. In this Rapid Communication we highlight the main qualitative features of a NEQ-EI time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (tr-ARPES) spectrum. We show that monochromatic probes yield a steady-state spectrum with excitonic structures originating from the dressing of conduction states with the coherent condensate. These structures are replicas of the NEQ valence bands but shifted upward in energy by the condensate frequency. Reducing the probe duration below the condensate period, the band structure gradually fades away and the tr-ARPES signal becomes proportional to the excitonic wave function. In addition, the signal amplitude becomes periodic in the impinging time of the probe, with the same period of the oscillating condensate.