Electron-lattice energy relaxation in laser-excited thin-film Au-insulator heterostructures studied by ultrafast MeV electron diffraction

Sokolowski-Tinten, K.; Shen, X.; Zheng, Q.; Chase, T.; Coffee, R.; Jerman, M.; Li, R. K.; Ligges, M.; Makasyuk, I.; Mo, M.; Reid, A. H.; Rethfeld, B.; Vecchione, T.; Weathersby, S. P.; Dürr, H. A.; Wang, X. J.

doi:10.1063/1.4995258

Title: Electron-lattice energy relaxation in laser-excited thin-film Au-insulator heterostructures studied by ultrafast MeV electron diffraction

Journal Article · Fri Jul 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Structural Dynamics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4995258· OSTI ID:1624999

Sokolowski-Tinten, K. ^[1]; Shen, X. ^[2]; Zheng, Q. ^[3]; Chase, T. ^[2]; Coffee, R. ^[2]; Jerman, M. ^[1]; Li, R. K. ^[2]; Ligges, M. ^[1]; Makasyuk, I. ^[2]; Mo, M. ^[2]; Reid, A. H. ^[2]; Rethfeld, B. ^[4]; Vecchione, T. ^[2]; Weathersby, S. P. ^[2]; Dürr, H. A. ^[2]; Wang, X. J. ^[2]

Univ. of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai (China)
Technical Univ. Kaiserslautern (Germany)

We apply time-resolved MeV electron diffraction to study the electron-lattice energy relaxation in thin film Au-insulator heterostructures. Through precise measurements of the transient Debye-Waller-factor, the mean-square atomic displacement is directly determined, which allows to quantitatively follow the temporal evolution of the lattice temperature after short pulse laser excitation. Data obtained over an extended range of laser fluences reveal an increased relaxation rate when the film thickness is reduced or the Au-film is capped with an additional insulator top-layer. This behavior is attributed to a cross-interfacial coupling of excited electrons in the Au film to phonons in the adjacent insulator layer(s). Analysis of the data using the two-temperature-model taking explicitly into account the additional energy loss at the interface(s) allows to deduce the relative strength of the two relaxation channels.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1624999

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1372126

Journal Information:: Structural Dynamics, Vol. 4, Issue 5; ISSN 2329-7778

Publisher:: American Crystallographic Association/AIPCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 23 works

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Cited By (6)

Microscopic nonequilibrium energy transfer dynamics in a photoexcited metal/insulator heterostructure Rothenbach, N.; Gruner, M. E.; Ollefs, K. Physical Review B, Vol. 100, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.100.174301	journal	November 2019
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Layer specific observation of slow thermal equilibration in ultrathin metallic nanostructures by femtosecond X-ray diffraction Pudell, Jan Etienne; Maznev, Alexei; Herzog, Marc Universität Potsdam https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-42623	text	January 2019
Layer specific observation of slow thermal equilibration in ultrathin metallic nanostructures by femtosecond X-ray diffraction Pudell, J.; Maznev, A. A.; Herzog, M. Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05693-5	journal	August 2018
Determination of the electron-lattice coupling strength of copper with ultrafast MeV electron diffraction Mo, M. Z.; Becker, V.; Ofori-Okai, B. K. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 89, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5035368	journal	October 2018
Layer specific observation of slow thermal equilibration in ultrathin metallic nanostructures by femtosecond x-ray diffraction Pudell, J.; Maznev, A.; Herzog, M. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1803.04034	text	January 2018

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