ABSTRACT
Time-resolved x-ray diffraction with picosecond temporal resolution is used to observe scattering from impulsively generated coherent acoustic phonons in laser-excited InSb crystals. The observed frequencies and damping rates are in agreement with a model based on dynamical diffraction theory coupled to analytic solutions for the laser-induced strain profile. The results are consistent with a 12 ps thermal electron-acoustic phonon coupling time together with an instantaneous component from the deformation-potential interaction. Above a critical laser fluence, we show that the first step in the transition to a disordered state is the excitation of large amplitude, coherent atomic motion.
ABSTRACT
Femtosecond synchrotron pulses were generated directly from an electron storage ring. An ultrashort laser pulse was used to modulate the energy of electrons within a 100-femtosecond slice of the stored 30-picosecond electron bunch. The energy-modulated electrons were spatially separated from the long bunch and used to generate approximately 300-femtosecond synchrotron pulses at a bend-magnet beamline, with a spectral range from infrared to x-ray wavelengths. The same technique can be used to generate approximately 100-femtosecond x-ray pulses of substantially higher flux and brightness with an undulator. Such synchrotron-based femtosecond x-ray sources offer the possibility of applying x-ray techniques on an ultrafast time scale to investigate structural dynamics in condensed matter.
