@article{MatternvonReppertZeuschneretal.2023, author = {Mattern, Maximilian and von Reppert, Alexander and Zeuschner, Steffen Peer and Herzog, Marc and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Concepts and use cases for picosecond ultrasonics with x-rays}, series = {Photoacoustics}, volume = {31}, journal = {Photoacoustics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {2213-5979}, doi = {10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100503}, pages = {22}, year = {2023}, abstract = {This review discusses picosecond ultrasonics experiments using ultrashort hard x-ray probe pulses to extract the transient strain response of laser-excited nanoscopic structures from Bragg-peak shifts. This method provides direct, layer-specific, and quantitative information on the picosecond strain response for structures down to few-nm thickness. We model the transient strain using the elastic wave equation and express the driving stress using Gruneisen parameters stating that the laser-induced stress is proportional to energy density changes in the microscopic subsystems of the solid, i.e., electrons, phonons and spins. The laser-driven strain response can thus serve as an ultrafast proxy for local energy-density and temperature changes, but we emphasize the importance of the nanoscale morphology for an accurate interpretation due to the Poisson effect. The presented experimental use cases encompass ultrathin and opaque metal-heterostructures, continuous and granular nanolayers as well as negative thermal expansion materials, that each pose a challenge to established all-optical techniques.}, language = {en} } @article{HerzogvonReppertPudelletal.2022, author = {Herzog, Marc and von Reppert, Alexander and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and Henkel, Carsten and Kronseder, Matthias and Back, Christian H. and Maznev, Alexei A. and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Phonon-dominated energy transport in purely metallic heterostructures}, series = {Advanced functional materials}, volume = {32}, journal = {Advanced functional materials}, number = {41}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {1616-301X}, doi = {10.1002/adfm.202206179}, pages = {8}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Ultrafast X-ray diffraction is used to quantify the transport of energy in laser-excited nanoscale gold-nickel (Au-Ni) bilayers. Electron transport and efficient electron-phonon coupling in Ni convert the laser-deposited energy in the conduction electrons within a few picoseconds into a strong non-equilibrium between hot Ni and cold Au phonons at the bilayer interface. Modeling of the subsequent equilibration dynamics within various two-temperature models confirms that for ultrathin Au films, the thermal transport is dominated by phonons instead of conduction electrons because of the weak electron-phonon coupling in Au.}, language = {en} } @article{ShaydukHallmannRodriguezFernandezetal.2022, author = {Shayduk, Roman and Hallmann, J{\"o}rg and Rodriguez-Fernandez, Angel and Scholz, Markus and Lu, Wei and B{\"o}senberg, Ulrike and M{\"o}ller, Johannes and Zozulya, Alexey and Jiang, Man and Wegner, Ulrike and Secareanu, Radu-Costin and Palmer, Guido and Emons, Moritz and Lederer, Max and Volkov, Sergey and Lindfors-Vrejoiu, Ionela and Schick, Daniel and Herzog, Marc and Bargheer, Matias and Madsen, Anders}, title = {Femtosecond x-ray diffraction study of multi-THz coherent phonons in SrTiO3}, series = {Applied physics letters}, volume = {120}, journal = {Applied physics letters}, number = {20}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0003-6951}, doi = {10.1063/5.0083256}, pages = {5}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We report generation of ultra-broadband longitudinal acoustic coherent phonon wavepackets in SrTiO3 (STO) with frequency components extending throughout the first Brillouin zone. The wavepackets are efficiently generated in STO using femtosecond infrared laser excitation of an atomically flat 1.6 nm-thick epitaxial SrRuO3 film. We use femtosecond x-ray diffraction at the European X-Ray Free Electron Laser Facility to study the dispersion and damping of phonon wavepackets. The experimentally determined damping constants for multi-THz frequency phonons compare favorably to the extrapolation of a simple ultrasound damping model over several orders of magnitude.}, language = {en} } @article{MatternvonReppertZeuschneretal.2022, author = {Mattern, Maximilian and von Reppert, Alexander and Zeuschner, Steffen Peer and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and K{\"u}hne, F. and Diesing, Detlef and Herzog, Marc and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Electronic energy transport in nanoscale Au/Fe hetero-structures in the perspective of ultrafast lattice dynamics}, series = {Applied physics letters}, volume = {120}, journal = {Applied physics letters}, number = {9}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0003-6951}, doi = {10.1063/5.0080378}, pages = {5}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We study the ultrafast electronic transport of energy in a photoexcited nanoscale Au/Fe hetero-structure by modeling the spatiotemporal profile of energy densities that drives transient strain, which we quantify by femtosecond x-ray diffraction. This flow of energy is relevant for intrinsic demagnetization and ultrafast spin transport. We measured lattice strain for different Fe layer thicknesses ranging from few atomic layers to several nanometers and modeled the spatiotemporal flow of energy densities. The combination of a high electron-phonon coupling coefficient and a large Sommerfeld constant in Fe is found to yield electronic transfer of nearly all energy from Au to Fe within the first hundreds of femtoseconds.}, language = {en} } @article{MorHerzogNoacketal.2018, author = {Mor, Selene and Herzog, Marc and Noack, Johannes and Katayama, Naoyuki and Nohara, Minoru and Takagi, Hide and Trunschke, Annette and Mizokawa, Takashi and Monney, Claude and St{\"a}hler, Julia}, title = {Inhibition of the photoinduced structural phase transition in the excitonic insulator Ta2NiSe5}, series = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, volume = {97}, journal = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, number = {11}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {2469-9950}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.97.115154}, pages = {5}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Femtosecond time-resolved midinfrared reflectivity is used to investigate the electron and phonon dynamics occurring at the direct band gap of the excitonic insulator Ta2NiSe5 below the critical temperature of its structural phase transition. We find that the phonon dynamics show a strong coupling to the excitation of free carriers at the Gamma point of the Brillouin zone. The optical response saturates at a critical excitation fluence F-C = 0.30 +/- 0.08 mJ/cm(2) due to optical absorption saturation. This limits the optical excitation density in Ta2NiSe5 so that the system cannot be pumped sufficiently strongly to undergo the structural change to the high-temperature phase. We thereby demonstrate that Ta2NiSe5 exhibits a blocking mechanism when pumped in the near-infrared regime, preventing a nonthermal structural phase transition.}, language = {en} } @article{PudellMaznevHerzogetal.2018, author = {Pudell, Jan-Etienne and Maznev, A. A. and Herzog, Marc and Kronseder, M. and Back, Christian H. and Malinowski, Gregory and von Reppert, Alexander and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Layer specific observation of slow thermal equilibration in ultrathin metallic nanostructures by femtosecond X-ray diffraction}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {9}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-05693-5}, pages = {7}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Ultrafast heat transport in nanoscale metal multilayers is of great interest in the context of optically induced demagnetization, remagnetization and switching. If the penetration depth of light exceeds the bilayer thickness, layer-specific information is unavailable from optical probes. Femtosecond diffraction experiments provide unique experimental access to heat transport over single digit nanometer distances. Here, we investigate the structural response and the energy flow in the ultrathin double-layer system: gold on ferromagnetic nickel. Even though the excitation pulse is incident from the Au side, we observe a very rapid heating of the Ni lattice, whereas the Au lattice initially remains cold. The subsequent heat transfer from Ni to the Au lattice is found to be two orders of magnitude slower than predicted by the conventional heat equation and much slower than electron-phonon coupling times in Au. We present a simplified model calculation highlighting the relevant thermophysical quantities.}, language = {en} } @article{vonReppertWilligPudelletal.2018, author = {von Reppert, Alexander and Willig, Lisa and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and Roessle, M. and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Herzog, Marc and Ganss, F. and Hellwig, O. and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Ultrafast laser generated strain in granular and continuous FePt thin films}, series = {Applied physics letters}, volume = {113}, journal = {Applied physics letters}, number = {12}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0003-6951}, doi = {10.1063/1.5050234}, pages = {5}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We employ ultrafast X-ray diffraction to compare the lattice dynamics of laser-excited continuous and granular FePt films on MgO (100) substrates. Contrary to recent results on free-standing granular films, we observe in both cases a pronounced and long-lasting out-of-plane expansion. We attribute this discrepancy to the in-plane expansion, which is suppressed by symmetry in continuous films. Granular films on substrates are less constrained and already show a reduced out-of-plane contraction. Via the Poisson effect, out-of-plane contractions drive in-plane expansion and vice versa. Consistently, the granular film exhibits a short-lived out-of-plane contraction driven by ultrafast demagnetization which is followed by a reduced and delayed expansion. From the acoustic reflections of the observed strain waves at the film-substrate interface, we extract a 13\% reduction of the elastic constants in thin 10 nm FePt films compared to bulk-like samples. (C) 2018 Author(s).}, language = {en} } @misc{ZeuschnerMatternPudelletal.2021, author = {Zeuschner, Steffen Peer and Mattern, Maximilian and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and von Reppert, Alexander and R{\"o}ssle, M. and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Schwarzkopf, J. and Boschker, J. E. and Herzog, Marc and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Reciprocal space slicing}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {1137}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49976}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-499761}, pages = {13}, year = {2021}, abstract = {An experimental technique that allows faster assessment of out-of-plane strain dynamics of thin film heterostructures via x-ray diffraction is presented. In contrast to conventional high-speed reciprocal space-mapping setups, our approach reduces the measurement time drastically due to a fixed measurement geometry with a position-sensitive detector. This means that neither the incident (ω) nor the exit (2θ) diffraction angle is scanned during the strain assessment via x-ray diffraction. Shifts of diffraction peaks on the fixed x-ray area detector originate from an out-of-plane strain within the sample. Quantitative strain assessment requires the determination of a factor relating the observed shift to the change in the reciprocal lattice vector. The factor depends only on the widths of the peak along certain directions in reciprocal space, the diffraction angle of the studied reflection, and the resolution of the instrumental setup. We provide a full theoretical explanation and exemplify the concept with picosecond strain dynamics of a thin layer of NbO2.}, language = {en} } @article{ZeuschnerMatternPudelletal.2021, author = {Zeuschner, Steffen Peer and Mattern, Maximilian and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and von Reppert, Alexander and R{\"o}ssle, M. and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Schwarzkopf, J. and Boschker, J. E. and Herzog, Marc and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Reciprocal space slicing}, series = {Structural Dynamics}, volume = {8}, journal = {Structural Dynamics}, publisher = {AIP Publishing LLC}, address = {Melville, NY}, issn = {2329-7778}, doi = {10.1063/4.0000040}, pages = {11}, year = {2021}, abstract = {An experimental technique that allows faster assessment of out-of-plane strain dynamics of thin film heterostructures via x-ray diffraction is presented. In contrast to conventional high-speed reciprocal space-mapping setups, our approach reduces the measurement time drastically due to a fixed measurement geometry with a position-sensitive detector. This means that neither the incident (ω) nor the exit (2θ) diffraction angle is scanned during the strain assessment via x-ray diffraction. Shifts of diffraction peaks on the fixed x-ray area detector originate from an out-of-plane strain within the sample. Quantitative strain assessment requires the determination of a factor relating the observed shift to the change in the reciprocal lattice vector. The factor depends only on the widths of the peak along certain directions in reciprocal space, the diffraction angle of the studied reflection, and the resolution of the instrumental setup. We provide a full theoretical explanation and exemplify the concept with picosecond strain dynamics of a thin layer of NbO2.}, language = {en} } @article{PudellvonReppertSchicketal.2019, author = {Pudell, Jan-Etienne and von Reppert, Alexander and Schick, D. and Zamponi, F. and R{\"o}ssle, Matthias and Herzog, Marc and Zabel, Hartmut and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Ultrafast negative thermal expansion driven by spin disorder}, series = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, volume = {99}, journal = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, number = {9}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {2469-9950}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.99.094304}, pages = {7}, year = {2019}, abstract = {We measure the transient strain profile in a nanoscale multilayer system composed of yttrium, holmium, and niobium after laser excitation using ultrafast x-ray diffraction. The strain propagation through each layer is determined by transient changes in the material-specific Bragg angles. We experimentally derive the exponentially decreasing stress profile driving the strain wave and show that it closely matches the optical penetration depth. Below the Neel temperature of Ho, the optical excitation triggers negative thermal expansion, which is induced by a quasi-instantaneous contractive stress and a second contractive stress contribution increasing on a 12-ps timescale. These two timescales were recently measured for the spin disordering in Ho [Rettig et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 257202 (2016)]. As a consequence, we observe an unconventional bipolar strain pulse with an inverted sign traveling through the heterostructure.}, language = {en} }