@article{PavlenkoSanderMitzscherlingetal.2016, author = {Pavlenko, Elena S. and Sander, Mathias and Mitzscherling, S. and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and Zamponi, Flavio and Roessle, M. and Bojahr, Andre and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Azobenzene - functionalized polyelectrolyte nanolayers as ultrafast optoacoustic transducers}, series = {Nanoscale}, volume = {8}, journal = {Nanoscale}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {2040-3364}, doi = {10.1039/c6nr01448h}, pages = {13297 -- 13302}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We introduce azobenzene-functionalized polyelectrolyte multilayers as efficient, inexpensive optoacoustic transducers for hyper-sound strain waves in the GHz range. By picosecond transient reflectivity measurements we study the creation of nanoscale strain waves, their reflection from interfaces, damping by scattering from nanoparticles and propagation in soft and hard adjacent materials like polymer layers, quartz and mica. The amplitude of the generated strain epsilon similar to 5 x 10(-4) is calibrated by ultrafast X-ray diffraction.}, language = {en} } @article{MaertenBojahrGohlkeetal.2015, author = {Maerten, Lena and Bojahr, Andre and Gohlke, Mathias and R{\"o}ssle, Matthias and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Coupling of GHz Phonons to Ferroelastic Domain Walls in SrTiO3}, series = {Physical review letters}, volume = {114}, journal = {Physical review letters}, number = {4}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {0031-9007}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.047401}, pages = {5}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We study the linear and nonlinear acoustic response of SrTiO3 across its ferroelastic transition at T-a = 105 K by time domain Brillouin scattering. Above T-a we observe that for a strain amplitude of similar to 0.18\% the sound velocity for compressive strain exceeds the tensile strain velocity by 3\%. Below T-a we find a giant slowing down of the sound velocity by 12\% and attribute this to the coupling of GHz phonons to ferroelastic twin domain walls. We propose a new mechanism for this coupling on the ultrafast time scale, providing an important new test ground for theories used to simulate atomic motion in domain forming crystals.}, language = {en} } @article{BojahrGohlkeLeitenbergeretal.2015, author = {Bojahr, Andre and Gohlke, Matthias and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Pudell, Jan-Etienne and Reinhardt, Matthias and Reppert, Alexander von and R{\"o}ssle, Matthias and Sander, Mathias and Gaal, Peter and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Second Harmonic Generation of Nanoscale Phonon Wave Packets}, series = {Physical review letters}, volume = {115}, journal = {Physical review letters}, number = {19}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {0031-9007}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.195502}, pages = {5}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Phonons are often regarded as delocalized quasiparticles with certain energy and momentum. The anharmonic interaction of phonons determines macroscopic properties of the solid, such as thermal expansion or thermal conductivity, and a detailed understanding becomes increasingly important for functional nanostructures. Although phonon-phonon scattering processes depicted in simple wave-vector diagrams are the basis of theories describing these macroscopic phenomena, experiments directly accessing these coupling channels are scarce. We synthesize monochromatic acoustic phonon wave packets with only a few cycles to introduce nonlinear phononics as the acoustic counterpart to nonlinear optics. Control of the wave vector, bandwidth, and consequently spatial extent of the phonon wave packets allows us to observe nonlinear phonon interaction, in particular, second harmonic generation, in real time by wave-vector-sensitive Brillouin scattering with x-rays and optical photons.}, language = {en} } @article{GaalSchickHerzogetal.2014, author = {Gaal, Peter and Schick, Daniel and Herzog, Marc and Bojahr, Andre and Shayduk, Roman and Goldshteyn, Jevgeni and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Vrejoiu, Ionela and Khakhulin, Dmitry and Wulff, Michael and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Ultrafast switching of hard X-rays}, series = {Journal of synchrotron radiation}, volume = {21}, journal = {Journal of synchrotron radiation}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0909-0495}, doi = {10.1107/S1600577513031949}, pages = {380 -- 385}, year = {2014}, abstract = {A new concept for shortening hard X-ray pulses emitted from a third-generation synchrotron source down to few picoseconds is presented. The device, called the PicoSwitch, exploits the dynamics of coherent acoustic phonons in a photo-excited thin film. A characterization of the structure demonstrates switching times of <= 5 ps and a peak reflectivity of similar to 10(-3). The device is tested in a real synchrotron-based pump-probe experiment and reveals features of coherent phonon propagation in a second thin film sample, thus demonstrating the potential to significantly improve the temporal resolution at existing synchrotron facilities.}, language = {en} } @article{GoldshteynBojahrGaaletal.2014, author = {Goldshteyn, Jevgeni and Bojahr, Andre and Gaal, Peter and Schick, Daniel and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Selective preparation and detection of phonon polariton wavepackets by stimulated Raman scattering}, series = {Physica status solidi : Physica status solidi}, volume = {251}, journal = {Physica status solidi : Physica status solidi}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {0370-1972}, doi = {10.1002/pssb.201350114}, pages = {821 -- 828}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Wavevector-selective impulsive excitation of phonon-polaritons by a spectrally broad femtosecond transient grating produces wavepackets propagating in opposite directions. The photons in spectrally narrow probe pulses are scattered from these elementary excitations in lithium niobate (LiNbO3). Both elastically and inelastically scattered photons are simultaneously detected in a spectrometer. The Stokes- and anti-Stokes shifted probe pulses uniquely determine the propagation direction of the detected polariton wavepacket components and correspond to creation or annihilation of phonon-polaritons. Our experiments with spectrally broad pump and spectrally narrow probe pulses allows dissecting the four-wave-mixing process into two sequential stimulated Raman scattering events.}, language = {en} } @article{SchickHerzogBojahretal.2014, author = {Schick, Daniel and Herzog, Marc and Bojahr, Andre and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Hertwig, Andreas and Shayduk, Roman and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Ultrafast lattice response of photoexcited thin films studied by X-ray diffraction}, series = {Structural dynamics}, volume = {1}, journal = {Structural dynamics}, number = {6}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {2329-7778}, doi = {10.1063/1.4901228}, pages = {13}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Using ultrafast X-ray diffraction, we study the coherent picosecond lattice dynamics of photoexcited thin films in the two limiting cases, where the photoinduced stress profile decays on a length scale larger and smaller than the film thickness. We solve a unifying analytical model of the strain propagation for acoustic impedance-matched opaque films on a semi-infinite transparent substrate, showing that the lattice dynamics essentially depend on two parameters: One for the spatial profile and one for the amplitude of the strain. We illustrate the results by comparison with high-quality ultrafast X-ray diffraction data of SrRuO3 films on SrTiO3 substrates. (C) 2014 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.}, language = {en} } @article{SchickBojahrHerzogetal.2012, author = {Schick, Daniel and Bojahr, Andre and Herzog, Marc and von Korff Schmising, Clemens and Shayduk, Roman and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Gaa, P. and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Normalization schemes for ultrafast x-ray diffraction using a table-top laser-driven plasma source}, series = {Review of scientific instruments : a monthly journal devoted to scientific instruments, apparatus, and techniques}, volume = {83}, journal = {Review of scientific instruments : a monthly journal devoted to scientific instruments, apparatus, and techniques}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0034-6748}, doi = {10.1063/1.3681254}, pages = {7}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We present an experimental setup of a laser-driven x-ray plasma source for femtosecond x-ray diffraction. Different normalization schemes accounting for x-ray source intensity fluctuations are discussed in detail. We apply these schemes to measure the temporal evolution of Bragg peak intensities of perovskite superlattices after ultrafast laser excitation.}, language = {en} } @article{HerzogBojahrGoldshteynetal.2012, author = {Herzog, Marc and Bojahr, Andre and Goldshteyn, J. and Leitenberger, Wolfram and Vrejoiu, I. and Khakhulin, D. and Wulff, M. and Shayduk, Roman and Gaal, P. and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Detecting optically synthesized quasi-monochromatic sub-terahertz phonon wavepackets by ultrafast x-ray diffraction}, series = {Applied physics letters}, volume = {100}, journal = {Applied physics letters}, number = {9}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0003-6951}, doi = {10.1063/1.3688492}, pages = {4}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We excite an epitaxial SrRuO3 thin film transducer by a pulse train of ultrashort laser pulses, launching coherent sound waves into the underlying SrTiO3 substrate. Synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction (XRD) data exhibiting separated sidebands to the substrate peak evidence the excitation of a quasi-monochromatic phonon wavepacket with sub-THz central frequency. The frequency and bandwidth of this sound pulse can be controlled by the optical pulse train. We compare the experimental data to combined lattice dynamics and dynamical XRD simulations to verify the coherent phonon dynamics. In addition, we observe a lifetime of 130 ps of such sub-THz phonons in accordance with the theory.}, language = {en} } @article{BojahrSchickMaertenetal.2012, author = {Bojahr, Andre and Schick, Daniel and M{\"a}rten, Lena and Herzog, Marc and Vrejoiu, Ionela and von Korff Schmising, Clemens and Milne, Chris and Johnson, Steven Lee and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Comparing the oscillation phase in optical pump-probe spectra to ultrafast x-ray diffraction in the metal-dielectric SrRuO3/SrTiO3 superlattice}, series = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, volume = {85}, journal = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, number = {22}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {1098-0121}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.85.224302}, pages = {6}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We measured the ultrafast optical response of metal-dielectric superlattices by broadband all-optical pump-probe spectroscopy. The observed phase of the superlattice mode depends on the probe wavelength, making assignments of the excitation mechanism difficult. Ultrafast x-ray diffraction data reveal the true oscillation phase of the lattice which changes as a function of the excitation fluence. This result is confirmed by the fluence dependence of optical transients. We set up a linear chain model of the lattice dynamics and successfully simulated the broadband optical reflection by unit-cell resolved calculation of the strain-dependent dielectric functions of the constituting materials.}, language = {en} } @article{BojahrHerzogSchicketal.2012, author = {Bojahr, Andre and Herzog, Marc and Schick, Daniel and Vrejoiu, Ionela and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {Calibrated real-time detection of nonlinearly propagating strain waves}, series = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, volume = {86}, journal = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, number = {14}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {1098-0121}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.86.144306}, pages = {5}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Epitaxially grown metallic oxide transducers support the generation of ultrashort strain pulses in SrTiO3 (STO) with high amplitudes up to 0.5\%. The strain amplitudes are calibrated by real-time measurements of the lattice deformation using ultrafast x-ray diffraction. We determine the speed at which the strain fronts propagate by broadband picosecond ultrasonics and conclude that, above a strain level of approx. 0.2\%, the compressive and tensile strain components travel at considerably different sound velocities, indicating nonlinear wave behavior. Simulations based on an anharmonic linear-chain model are in excellent accord with the experimental findings and show how the spectrum of coherent phonon modes changes with time.}, language = {en} }