Non-thermal melting in semiconductors measured at femtosecond resolution

A. Rousse (), C. Rischel, S. Fourmaux, I. Uschmann, S. Sebban, G. Grillon, Ph. Balcou, E. Förster, J.P. Geindre, P. Audebert, J.C. Gauthier and D. Hulin
Additional contact information
A. Rousse: Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR7639, École Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière
C. Rischel: Niels Bohr Institute
S. Fourmaux: Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR7639, École Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière
I. Uschmann: X-ray Optics Group, Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
S. Sebban: Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR7639, École Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière
G. Grillon: Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR7639, École Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière
Ph. Balcou: Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR7639, École Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière
E. Förster: X-ray Optics Group, Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
J.P. Geindre: Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS, École Polytechnique, CEA, Université Paris VI, École Polytechnique
P. Audebert: Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS, École Polytechnique, CEA, Université Paris VI, École Polytechnique
J.C. Gauthier: Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS, École Polytechnique, CEA, Université Paris VI, École Polytechnique
D. Hulin: Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR7639, École Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière

Nature, 2001, vol. 410, issue 6824, 65-68

Abstract: Abstract Ultrafast time-resolved optical spectroscopy has revealed new classes of physical1, chemical2 and biological3 reactions, in which directed, deterministic motions of atoms have a key role. This contrasts with the random, diffusive motion of atoms across activation barriers that typically determines kinetic rates on slower timescales. An example of these new processes is the ultrafast melting of semiconductors, which is believed to arise from a strong modification of the inter-atomic forces owing to laser-induced promotion of a large fraction (10% or more) of the valence electrons to the conduction band1,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. The atoms immediately begin to move and rapidly gain sufficient kinetic energy to induce melting—much faster than the several picoseconds required to convert the electronic energy into thermal motions13. Here we present measurements of the characteristic melting time of InSb with a recently developed technique of ultrafast time-resolved X-ray diffraction14,15,16,17,18,19 that, in contrast to optical spectroscopy, provides a direct probe of the changing atomic structure. The data establish unambiguously a loss of long-range order up to 900 Å inside the crystal, with time constants as short as 350 femtoseconds. This ability to obtain the quantitative structural characterization of non-thermal processes should find widespread application in the study of ultrafast dynamics in other physical, chemical and biological systems.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35065045 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:410:y:2001:i:6824:d:10.1038_35065045

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35065045

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().