Photoinduced enhancement of bond order in the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model

We investigate the real-time dynamics of the half-filled one-dimensional extended Hubbard model in the strong-coupling regime, when driven by a transient laser pulse. Starting from a wide regime displaying a charge-density wave in equilibrium, a robust photoinduced in-gap state appears in the optical conductivity, depending on the parameters of the pulse. Here, by tuning its conditions, we maximize the overlap of the time-evolving wave function with excited states displaying the elusive bond-ordered wave of this model. Finally, we make a clear connection between the emergence of this order and the formation of the aforementioned in-gap state, suggesting the potential observation of purely electronic (i.e., not associated with a Peierls instability) bond-ordered waves in experiments involving molecular crystals.