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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.
We present a nanostructured device that functions as photoacoustic hard x-ray switch. The device is triggered by femtosecond laser pulses and allows for temporal gating of hard x-rays on picosecond (ps) timescales. It may be used for pulse picking or even pulse shortening in 3rd generation synchrotron sources. Previous approaches mainly suffered from insufficient switching contrasts due to excitation-induced thermal distortions. We present a new approach where thermal distortions are spatially separated from the functional switching layers in the structure. Our measurements yield a switching contrast of 14, which is sufficient for efficient hard x-ray pulse shortening. The optimized structure also allows for utilizing the switch at high repetition rates of up to 208 kHz. Published by AIP Publishing.
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.
Manipulating spin waves is highly required for the development of innovative data transport and processing technologies. Recently, the possibility of triggering high-frequency standing spin waves in magnetic insulators using femtosecond laser pulses was discovered, raising the question about how one can manipulate their dynamics. Here we explore this question by investigating the ultrafast magnetiza-tion and spin-wave dynamics induced by double-pulse laser excitation. We demonstrate a suppression or enhancement of the amplitudes of the standing spin waves by precisely tuning the time delay between the two pulses. The results can be understood as the constructive or destructive interference of the spin waves induced by the first and second laser pulses. Our findings open exciting perspectives towards generating single-mode standing spin waves that combine high frequency with large amplitude and low magnetic damping.
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.
We investigate spin-wave resonance modes and their damping in insulating thin films of bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet by performing femtosecond magneto-optical pump-probe experiments. For large magnetic fields in the range below the magnetization saturation, we find that the damping of high-order standing spin-wave (SSW) modes is about 40 times lower than that for the fundamental one. The observed phenomenon can be explained by considering different features of magnetic anisotropy and exchange fields that, respectively, define the precession frequency for fundamental and high-order SSWs. These results provide further insight into SSWs in iron garnets and may be exploited in many new photomagnonic devices.
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.
The plasmon resonance of metal nanoparticles determines their optical response in the visible spectral range. Many details such as the electronic properties of gold near the particle surface and the local environment of the particles influence the spectra. We show how the cheap but highly precise fabrication of composite nanolayers by spin-assisted layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolytes can be used to investigate the spectral response of gold nanospheres (GNS) and gold nanorods (GNR) in a self-consistent way, using the established Maxwell-Garnett effective medium (MGEM) theory beyond the limit of homogeneous media. We show that the dielectric function of gold nanoparticles differs from the bulk value and experimentally characterize the shape and the surrounding of the particles thoroughly by SEM, AFM and ellipsometry. Averaging the dielectric functions of the layered surrounding by an appropriate weighting with the electric field intensity yields excellent agreement for the spectra of several nanoparticles and nanorods with various cover-layer thicknesses.
The plasmon resonance of metal nanoparticles determines their optical response in the visible spectral range. Many details such as the electronic properties of gold near the particle surface and the local environment of the particles influence the spectra. We show how the cheap but highly precise fabrication of composite nanolayers by spin-assisted layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolytes can be used to investigate the spectral response of gold nanospheres (GNS) and gold nanorods (GNR) in a self-consistent way, using the established Maxwell–Garnett effective medium (MGEM) theory beyond the limit of homogeneous media. We show that the dielectric function of gold nanoparticles differs from the bulk value and experimentally characterize the shape and the surrounding of the particles thoroughly by SEM, AFM and ellipsometry. Averaging the dielectric functions of the layered surrounding by an appropriate weighting with the electric field intensity yields excellent agreement for the spectra of several nanoparticles and nanorods with various cover-layer thicknesses.