Using Diffuse Scattering to Observe X-Ray-Driven Nonthermal Melting
Abstract
We present results from the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser (SACLA) XFEL facility, using a high intensity (W/cm) X-ray pump X-ray probe scheme to observe changes in the ionic structure of silicon induced by X-ray heating of the electrons. By avoiding Laue spots in the scattering signal from a single crystalline sample, we observe a rapid rise in diffuse scattering, which we attribute to a loss of lattice order and a transition to a liquid state within 100 fs of irradiation, a timescale which agrees well with first principles simulations, but is faster than that predicted by purely inertial behavior. This method is capable of observing liquid scattering without masking or filtering of signal from the ambient solid, allowing the liquid structure to be measured throughout and beyond the phase change.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2007.15007,
title = {Using Diffuse Scattering to Observe X-Ray-Driven Nonthermal Melting},
author = {N. J. Hartley and J. Grenzer and L. Huang and Y. Inubushi and N. Kamimura and K. Katagiri and R. Kodama and A. Kon and W. Lu and M. Makita and T. Matsuoka and S. Nakajima and N. Ozaki and T. Pikuz and A. Rode and D. Sagae and A. K. Schuster and K. Tono and K. Voigt and J. Vorberger and T. Yabuuchi and E. E. McBride and D. Kraus},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.15007},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
6 pages, 5 figures. Updated title and abstract