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Electronically Driven Structure Changes of Si Captured by Femtosecond Electron Diffraction

Maher Harb, Ralph Ernstorfer, Christoph T. Hebeisen, Germán Sciaini, Weina Peng, Thibault Dartigalongue, Mark A. Eriksson, Max G. Lagally, Sergei G. Kruglik, and R. J. Dwayne Miller
Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 155504 – Published 18 April 2008

Abstract

The excitation of a high density of carriers in semiconductors can induce an order-to-disorder phase transition due to changes in the potential-energy landscape of the lattice. We report the first direct resolution of the structural details of this phenomenon in freestanding films of polycrystalline and (001)-oriented crystalline Si, using 200-fs electron pulses. At excitation levels greater than 6% of the valence electron density, the crystalline structure of the lattice is lost in <500fs, a time scale indicative of an electronically driven phase transition. We find that the relaxation process along the modified potential is not inertial but rather involves multiple scattering towards the disordered state.

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  • Received 19 December 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.155504

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Maher Harb1, Ralph Ernstorfer1, Christoph T. Hebeisen1, Germán Sciaini1, Weina Peng2, Thibault Dartigalongue1, Mark A. Eriksson2, Max G. Lagally2, Sergei G. Kruglik1, and R. J. Dwayne Miller1,*

  • 1Institute for Optical Sciences and Departments of Physics and Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada
  • 2University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

  • *dmiller@lphys.chem.utoronto.ca

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Vol. 100, Iss. 15 — 18 April 2008

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