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Intense femtosecond laser excitation can produce transient states of matter that would otherwise be inaccessible to laboratory investigation. At high excitation densities, the interatomic forces that bind solids and determine many of their properties can be substantially altered. Here, we present the detailed mapping of the carrier density-dependent interatomic potential of bismuth approaching a solid-solid phase transition. Our experiments combine stroboscopic techniques that use a high-brightness linear electron accelerator-based x-ray source with pulse-by-pulse timing reconstruction for femtosecond resolution, allowing quantitative characterization of the interatomic potential energy surface of the highly excited solid.
Transient lattice dynamics in fs-laser-excited semiconductors probed by ultrafast X-ray diffraction
(2001)
A study of lattice dynamics in fs-laser-excited crystalline bulk Ge and Ge/Si-heterostructures, using time-resolved x-ray diffraction, was presented. Fast energy transport deep into the bulk of the material, coherent acoustic phonon dynamics, lattice anharmonicity, and vibrational transport across a buried interfaces were observed. Graphs showing time-dependent shifts of the centroid of the measured rocking curves in the Ge-overlayer and in the Si-substrate for different fluences, were presented.
Damping of impulsively generated coherent acoustic oscillations in a femtosecond laser-heated thin germanium film is measured as a function of fluence by means of ultrafast x-ray diffraction. By simultaneously measuring picosecond strain dynamics in the film and in the unexcited silicon substrate, we separate anharmonic damping from acoustic transmission through the buried interface. The measured damping rate and its dependence on the calculated temperature of the thermal bath is consistent with estimated four-body, elastic dephasing times (T2) for 7-GHz longitudinal acoustic phonons in germanium.
Summary form only given, as follow. Ultrafast optical-pump, X-ray diffraction probe experiments are providing new ways to study transient processes including the direct observation of the atomic motion by which many solid-state processes and chemical and biochemical reactions take place. Current table-top-terawatt femtosecond laser systems provide an attractive source of few-hundred femtosecond duration bursts of angstrom-scale X-ray radiation with fluxes comparable to standard rotating anode sources. Their compact size enables time resolved structural dynamics to be studied in the small laboratory with temporal resolution better than typical molecular vibrational periods. Ultrafast structural dynamics in crystalline samples are readily studied with such systems and experiments to be discussed in this talk include ultrafast non-thermal solid-to-liquid transition in thin single-crystal Ge-111 films grown on Si-111 substrates; ultrafast non-thermal solid-to-solid transitions in bulk vanadium dioxide from a low temperature insulating phase to a high temperature metallic phase; and harmonic and anharmonic coherent acoustic dynamics in layered Ge-111/Si-111 and bulk GaAs-111 samples. Future improvements in high-average power short-pulse lasers will enable the study of a wider class of materials such as amorphous solids or liquid-phase dynamics of simple molecules, while proposed 4th generation light sources based upon single-pass X-ray free-electron lasers will permit singleshot structural determination of complex biomolecules.
Ultrafast X-ray diffraction
(2005)
Using ultrafast, time-resolved, 1.54 angstrom x-ray diffraction, thermal and ultrafast nonthermal melting of germanium, involving passage through nonequilibrium extreme states of matter, was observed. Such ultrafast, optical-pump, x-ray diffraction probe measurements provide a way to study many other transient processes in physics, chemistry, and biology, including direct observation of the atomic motion by which many solid-state processes and chemical and biochemical reactions take place.
Time-resolved x-ray diffraction with ultrashort ( approximately 300 fs), multi-keV x-ray pulses has been used to study the femtosecond laser-induced solid-to-liquid phase transition in a thin crystalline layer of germanium. Nonthermal melting is observed to take place within 300-500 fs. Following ultrafast melting we observe strong acoustic perturbations evolving on a picosecond time scale.