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Science 2 February 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5812, pp. 633 - 636
DOI: 10.1126/science.1135009
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Reports

Ultrafast Bond Softening in Bismuth: Mapping a Solid's Interatomic Potential with X-rays

D. M. Fritz,1,2* D. A. Reis,1,2 B. Adams,3 R. A. Akre,4 J. Arthur,5 C. Blome,6 P. H. Bucksbaum,2,4,7 A. L. Cavalieri,8 S. Engemann,5 S. Fahy,9 R. W. Falcone,10 P. H. Fuoss,11 K. J. Gaffney,5 M. J. George,5 J. Hajdu,12 M. P. Hertlein,13 P. B. Hillyard,14 M. Horn-von Hoegen,15 M. Kammler,16 J. Kaspar,14 R. Kienberger,8 P. Krejcik,4 S. H. Lee,17 A. M. Lindenberg,5 B. McFarland,7 D. Meyer,15 T. Montagne,4 É. D. Murray,9 A. J. Nelson,18 M. Nicoul,15 R. Pahl,19 J. Rudati,3 H. Schlarb,6 D. P. Siddons,20 K. Sokolowski-Tinten,15 Th. Tschentscher,6 D. von der Linde,15 J. B. Hastings5

Intense femtosecond laser excitation can produce transient states of matter that would otherwise be inaccessible to laboratory investigation. At high excitation densities, the interatomic forces that bind solids and determine many of their properties can be substantially altered. Here, we present the detailed mapping of the carrier density–dependent interatomic potential of bismuth approaching a solid-solid phase transition. Our experiments combine stroboscopic techniques that use a high-brightness linear electron accelerator–based x-ray source with pulse-by-pulse timing reconstruction for femtosecond resolution, allowing quantitative characterization of the interatomic potential energy surface of the highly excited solid.

1 Frontiers in Optical Coherent and Ultrafast Science (FOCUS) Center, Departments of Physics and Applied Physics Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
2 Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering (PULSE) Center, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
3 Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
4 Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
5 Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory/SLAC, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
6 Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
7 Departments of Physics and Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
8 Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
9 Department of Physics and Tyndall National Institute, University College, Cork, Ireland.
10 Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
11 Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
12 Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, SE-75124 Uppsala, Sweden.
13 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
14 Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
15 Institut für Experimentelle Physik, Universität Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany.
16 Institut für Halbleitertechnologie, Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
17 Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon 305-600, Republic of Korea.
18 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
19 Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
20 National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dmfritz{at}slac.stanford.edu

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