The seeds and homogeneous nucleation of photoinduced nonthermal melting in semiconductors due to self-amplified local dynamic instability

Liu, Wen-Hao; Luo, Jun-Wei; Li, Shu-Shen; Wang, Lin-Wang

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abn4430

Title: The seeds and homogeneous nucleation of photoinduced nonthermal melting in semiconductors due to self-amplified local dynamic instability

Journal Article · 08 July 2022 · Science Advances

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn4430 · OSTI ID:1905508

^[1];

^[1]; Li, Shu-Shen ^[1];

^[2]

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Laser-induced nonthermal melting in semiconductors has been studied over the past four decades, but the underlying mechanism is still under debate. Here, by using an advanced real-time time-dependent density functional theory simulation, we reveal that the photoexcitation-induced ultrafast nonthermal melting in silicon occurs via homogeneous nucleation with random seeds originating from a self-amplified local dynamic instability. Because of this local dynamic instability, any initial small random thermal displacements of atoms can be amplified by a charge transfer of photoexcited carriers, which, in turn, creates a local self-trapping center for the excited carriers and yields the random nucleation seeds. Because a sufficient amount of photoexcited hot carriers must be cooled down to band edges before participating in the self-amplification of local lattice distortions, the time needed for hot carrier cooling is the response for the longer melting time scales at shorter laser wavelengths. This finding provides fresh insights into photoinduced ultrafast nonthermal melting.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1905508

Journal Information:: Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 27 Vol. 8; ISSN 2375-2548

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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