TY - JOUR A1 - Sokolowski-Tinten, Klaus A1 - Blome, Christian A1 - Blums, Juris A1 - Cavalleri, Andrea A1 - Dietrich, Clemens A1 - Tarasevitch, Alexander A1 - Uschmann, Ingo A1 - Förster, Eckhard A1 - Kammler, Martin A1 - Horn-von Hoegen, Michael A1 - von der Linde, Dietrich T1 - Femtosecond X-ray measurement of coherent lattice vibrations near the Lindemann stability limit JF - Nature N2 - The study of phase-transition dynamics in solids beyond a time-averaged kinetic description requires direct measurement of the changes in the atomic configuration along the physical pathways leading to the new phase. The timescale of interest is in the range 10(-14) to 10(-12) s. Until recently, only optical techniques were capable of providing adequate time resolution, albeit with indirect sensitivity to structural arrangement. Ultrafast laser-induced changes of long-range order have recently been directly established for some materials using time-resolved X-ray diffraction. However, the measurement of the atomic displacements within the unit cell, as well as their relationship with the stability limit of a structural phase, has to date remained obscure. Here we report time-resolved X-ray diffraction measurements of the coherent atomic displacement of the lattice atoms in photoexcited bismuth close to a phase transition. Excitation of large-amplitude coherent optical phonons gives rise to a periodic modulation of the X-ray diffraction efficiency. Stronger excitation corresponding to atomic displacements exceeding 10 per cent of the nearest-neighbour distance-near the Lindemann limit-leads to a subsequent loss of long-range order, which is most probably due to melting of the material. Y1 - 2003 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01490 VL - 422 IS - 6929 SP - 287 EP - 289 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sokolowski-Tinten, Klaus A1 - Blome, Christian A1 - Blums, Juris A1 - Dietrich, Clemens A1 - Tarsevitch, Alexander A1 - Horn-von Hoegen, Michael A1 - von der Linde, Dietrich A1 - Cavalleri, Andrea A1 - Kammler, Martin A1 - Uschmann, Ingo A1 - Foerster, Eckhart T1 - Femtosecond X-ray Diffraction Study of Large Amplitude Coherent Optical Phonons in Laser-Excited Bismuth JF - Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1–6 June 2003, Baltimore, Maryland N2 - Femtosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction was used to directly study optical phonons in laser-excited Bismuth. A periodic modulation of the diffraction efficiency reveals initially coherent lattice distortions with atomic displacements of nearly 10% of the nearest- neighbor-distance. Y1 - 2003 UR - https://opg.optica.org/abstract.cfm?uri=cleo-2003-CMZ6 PB - Optical Society of America ER -