Femtosecond pump-probe reflectivity study of silicon carrier dynamics

We have studied the ultrafast optical response of native-oxide terminated Si(001) with pump-probe reflectivity using 800 nm, 28 fs pulses at an excitation density of $(5.5\mathrm{}\pm 0.3)\times {10}^{18}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}.$ Time-dependent reflectivity changes comprise third-order-response coherent-transient variations arising from anisotropic state filling and linear-response variations arising from excited free carriers, state filling, and lattice heating. A time constant of $32\pm 5\mathrm{fs}$ associated with momentum relaxation is extracted from the coherent-transient variations. The state-filling and free-carrier responses are sensitive to carrier temperature, allowing an electron-phonon energy relaxation time of $260\pm 30\mathrm{fs}$ to be measured. The recovery of the reflectivity signal back towards its initial value is largely governed surface recombination: a surface recombination velocity of $(3\mathrm{}\pm 1)\times {10}^4\mathrm{cm}\mathrm{}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ is deduced for native-oxide terminated Si(001).