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Title: Nanoscale Depth-Resolved Coherent Femtosecond Motion in Laser-Excited Bismuth

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
; ; ; ; ; ;  [1];  [2]; ;  [3]
  1. Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI (Switzerland)
  2. Laboratoire de Spectroscopie Ultrarapide, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
  3. Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Strasse 40, 34132 Kassel (Germany)

We employ grazing-incidence femtosecond x-ray diffraction to characterize the coherent, femtosecond laser-induced lattice motion of a bismuth crystal as a function of depth from the surface with a temporal resolution of 193{+-}8 fs. The data show direct consequences on the lattice motion from carrier diffusion and electron-hole interaction, allowing us to estimate an effective diffusion rate of D=2.3{+-}0.3 cm{sup 2}/s for the highly excited carriers and an electron-hole interaction time of 260{+-}20 fs.

OSTI ID:
21123883
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 15; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.155501; (c) 2008 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English