Spatially confined low-power optically pumped ultrafast synchrotron x-ray nanodiffraction

Abstract

The combination of ultrafast optical excitation and time-resolved synchrotron x-ray nanodiffraction provides unique insight into the photoinduced dynamics of materials, with the spatial resolution required to probe individual nanostructures or small volumes within heterogeneous materials. Optically excited x-ray nanobeam experiments are challenging because the high total optical power required for experimentally relevant optical fluences leads to mechanical instability due to heating. For a given fluence, tightly focusing the optical excitation reduces the average optical power by more than three orders of magnitude and thus ensures sufficient thermal stability for x-ray nanobeam studies. Delivering optical pulses via a scannable fiber-coupled optical objective provides a well-defined excitation geometry during rotation and translation of the sample and allows the selective excitation of isolated areas within the sample. Experimental studies of the photoinduced lattice dynamics of a 35 nm BiFeO3 thin film on a SrTiO3 substrate demonstrate the potential to excite and probe nanoscale volumes.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2015
Source ID
10.1063/1.4929436

Entities

People

  • Carolina Adamo
  • Darrell G. Schlom
  • Haidan Wen
  • Jack A. Tilka
  • Joonkyu Park
  • Margaret P. Cosgriff
  • Paul G. Evans
  • Pice Chen
  • Qingteng Zhang
  • Yi Zhu

Organizations

  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • Army Research Office
  • Cornell University
  • Division of Graduate Education
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics