Related papers: Nanoscale Ultrafast Lattice Modulation with Hard X…
Optical-domain Transient Grating (TG) spectroscopy is a versatile background-free four-wave-mixing technique used to probe vibrational, magnetic and electronic degrees of freedom in the time domain. The newly developed coherent X-ray Free…
X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements of femtosecond laser-induced transient gratings are applied to demonstrate the spatio-temporal coherent control of thermally induced surface deformations on ultrafast timescales. Using gracing incidence…
Understanding the complex plasma dynamics in ultra-intense relativistic laser-solid interactions is of fundamental importance to the applications of laser plasma-based particle accelerators, creation of high energy-density matter,…
We demonstrate full control of acoustic and thermal periodic deformations at solid surfaces down to sub-nanosecond time scales and few-micrometer length scales via independent variation of the temporal and spatial phase of two optical…
X-ray scattering has been an indispensable tool in advancing our understanding of matter, from the first evidence of the crystal lattice to recent discoveries of nuclei's fastest dynamics. In addition to the lattice, ultrafast resonant…
X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism have long served as indispensable tools for probing the electronic and magnetic properties of transition-metal compounds with elemental selectivity. In recent years, the…
The complex physics of the interaction between short pulse high intensity lasers and solids is so far hardly accessible by experiments. As a result of missing experimental capabilities to probe the complex electron dynamics and competing…
We utilize coherent femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pulses derived from a free electron laser (FEL) to generate transient periodic magnetization patterns with periods as short as 44 nm. Combining spatially periodic excitation with…
Advances in our ability to understand and utilize the world around us have always relied on the development of advanced tools for probing and manipulating materials properties. X-ray matter interactions played a critical role in the…
Collective lattice dynamics determine essential aspects of condensed matter, such as elastic and thermal properties. These exhibit strong dependence on the length-scale, reflecting the marked wavevector dependence of lattice excitations.…
Observing ultrafast laser-induced structural changes in nanoscale systems is essential for understanding the dynamics of intense light-matter interactions. For laser intensities on the order of $10^{14} \, \rm W/cm^2$, highly-collisional…
We use an x-ray free-electron laser to study the ultrafast lattice dynamics following above band-gap photoexcitation of the incipient ferroelectric potassium-tantalate, \kto. % We use ultrafast near-UV (central wavelength 266\,nm and 50 fs…
Static strain in complex oxide heterostructures has been extensively used to engineer electronic and magnetic properties at equilibrium. In the same spirit, deformations of the crystal lattice with light may be used to achieve functional…
High-brightness femtosecond-to-attosecond pulses are indispensable for probing electron dynamics on their fundamental temporal scales. X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) at high repetition rates will facilitate high-statistics measurements…
Selective optical excitation of a substrate lattice can drive phase changes across hetero-interfaces. This phenomenon is a non-equilibrium analogue of static strain control in heterostructures and may lead to new applications in optically…
The use of femtosecond laser pulses to impulsively excite thermal and mechanical transients in matter has led, in the last years, to the development of picosecond acoustics. Recently, the pump-probe approach has been applied to…
Studying thermal transport at the nanoscale poses formidable experimental challenges due both to the physics of the measurement process and to the issues of accuracy and reproducibility. The laser-induced transient thermal grating (TTG)…
The extremely high power densities and short durations of single pulses of x-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) have opened new opportunities in atomic physics, where complex excitation-relaxation chains allow for high ionization states in…
We demonstrate the potential of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) to advancethe understanding of complex plasma dynamics by allowing for the first time nanometer and femtosecond resolution at the same time in plasma diagnostics. Plasma…
X-ray free electron lasers (X-FELs) present new opportunities to study ultrafast lattice dynamics in complex materials. While the unprecedented source brilliance enables high fidelity measurement of structural dynamics, it also raises…