6533b870fe1ef96bd12cfdce
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Ultrafast Metamorphosis of a Complex Charge-Density Wave
K. HauptKai RossnagelAndrea RohwerN. ErasmusJure DemsarJure DemsarHeinrich SchwoererMaximilian Eichbergersubject
Condensed Matter::Quantum GasesMaterials scienceCondensed matter physicsUltrafast electron diffractionGeneral Physics and Astronomy02 engineering and technologyCrystal structure021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology01 natural sciencesOrders of magnitude (time)Condensed Matter::SuperconductivityPicosecondPhase (matter)0103 physical sciencesCondensed Matter::Strongly Correlated Electrons010306 general physics0210 nano-technologyNanoscopic scaleUltrashort pulseCharge density wavedescription
Modulated phases, commensurate or incommensurate with the host crystal lattice, are ubiquitous in solids. The transition between such phases involves formation and rearrangement of domain walls and is generally slow. Using ultrafast electron diffraction, we directly record the photoinduced transformation between a nearly commensurate and an incommensurate charge-density-wave phase in 1T-TaS(2). The transformation takes place on the picosecond time scale, orders of magnitude faster than previously observed for commensurate-to-incommensurate transitions. The transition speed and mechanism can be linked to the peculiar nanoscale structure of the photoexcited nearly commensurate phase.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-06-11 | Physical Review Letters |