Femtosecond nonlinear ultrasonics in gold probed with ultrashort surface plasmons

Temnov, Vasily V.; Klieber, Christoph; Nelson, Keith A.; Thomay, Tim; Knittel, Vanessa; Leitenstorfer, Alfred; Makarov, Denys; Albrecht, Manfred; Bratschitsch, Rudolf

doi:10.1038/ncomms2480

Cited by 75 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another method is by probing strain via the piezospectroscopic effect [77]. Even more recent work explored the interaction between nonlinear shock wave and surface plasmons and connects the important field of plasmonics to ultrafast acoustics [78,79].…”

Section: Transducermentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear ultrafast acoustics at the nano scale

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pulsed femtosecond lasers can generate acoustic pulses propagating in solids while displaying either diffraction, attenuation, nonlinearity and/or dispersion. When acoustic attenuation and diffraction are negligible, shock waves or solitons can form during propagation. Both wave types are phonon wavepackets with characteristic length scales as short as a few nanometer. Hence, they are well suited for acoustic characterization and manipulation of materials on both ultrafast and ultrashort scales. This work presents an overview of nonlinear ultrasonics since its first experimental demonstration at the beginning of this century to the more recent developments. We start by reviewing the main properties of nonlinear ultrafast acoustic propagation based on the underlying equations. Then we show various results obtained by different groups around the world with an emphasis on recent work. Current issues and directions of future research are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Transducermentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear ultrafast acoustics at the nano scale

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In such materials, characteristic pressures ranged from a few to 10-20 GPa, and acoustic Mach numbers defined as M A ¼ u=v 0 , where u is the particle velocity and v 0 the linear acoustic velocity, were subsonic in the range 0.2 < M A < 0.9. Very recently, the propagation of weak shock waves with Mach numbers M A < 0.1 and pressures below the damage threshold of the sample has been observed in thin sapphire slabs through ultrafast optical reflectivity [13], in a 4:1 methanol-ethanol mixture in a diamond anvil cell by ultrafast velocity interferometry [14], in a piezoelectric thin film through terahertz spectroscopy [15], and in a gold film through ultrafast plasmon interferometry [16] and ultrafast optical imaging [17]. In such weakly nonlinear acoustics experiments [18], no variation of the weak shock wave velocity during propagation has been reported to date.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear Acoustics at GHz Frequencies in a Viscoelastic Fragile Glass Former

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using a picosecond pump-probe ultrasonic technique, we study the propagation of high-amplitude, laser-generated longitudinal coherent acoustic pulses in the viscoelastic fragile glass former DC704. We observe an increase of almost 10% in acoustic pulse propagation speed at the highest optical pump fluence which is a result of the supersonic nature of nonlinear propagation in the viscous medium. From our measurement, we deduce the nonlinear acoustic parameter of the glass former in the gigahertz frequency range across the glass transition temperature. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.065701 PACS numbers: 64.70.P-, 62.50.-p, 62.60.+v The observation of laser-driven shock wave propagation provides direct experimental access to the equations of state of strongly compressed materials. This information is of paramount importance for geophysics, astrophysics [1], and inertial confinement fusion [2]. For many years, measurements of shock velocities have been possible through transit time measurements [3]. Only recently, single-shot optical velocity interferometry [2,4-9] allowed direct access to the dynamics of shock front motion in transparent solids but has been restricted to experimental configurations where the shock transforms the medium into a new, highly reflecting phase. Through this technique, the decay of both plane [4,7] and convergent [9,10] shocks with pressures exceeding tens of GPa have been reported. The propagation of shock waves in soft transparent materials such as polycarbonate and PMMA has been observed by single-shot ultrafast dynamic ellipsometry [11,12], a method allowing the separation of pressureinduced variations in elastic and optical properties. In such materials, characteristic pressures ranged from a few to 10-20 GPa, and acoustic Mach numbers defined as M A ¼ u=v 0 , where u is the particle velocity and v 0 the linear acoustic velocity, were subsonic in the range 0.2 < M A < 0.9. Very recently, the propagation of weak shock waves with Mach numbers M A < 0.1 and pressures below the damage threshold of the sample has been observed in thin sapphire slabs through ultrafast optical reflectivity [13], in a 4:1 methanol-ethanol mixture in a diamond anvil cell by ultrafast velocity interferometry [14], in a piezoelectric thin film through terahertz spectroscopy [15], and in a gold film through ultrafast plasmon interferometry [16] and ultrafast optical imaging [17]. In such weakly nonlinear acoustics experiments [18], no variation of the weak shock wave velocity during propagation has been reported to date. In a different manner, an indication for the nonlinearity of picosecond acoustic pulses with Mach numbers 0.0007 < M A < 0.0018 and their decay within 1-3 mm propagation distances has been observed by classical Brillouin spectroscopy [19] through measurement of the distribution of 22 GHz longitudinal phonons along the acoustic pulse trajectory. In such experiments, information on wide-frequency-band nonlinear waves is obtained from the spatial distribution of a single Brillouin frequency compo...

show abstract

“…35.Ja, 68.60.Bs, 68.35.Ja, 68.60.Bs, 61.05.CUltrafast photoacoustics [1,2] allows for the application of strain to a crystal lattice on ultrashort timeand lengthscales. Numerous studies have investigated coherent and incoherent phonon dynamics and the coupling of lattice deformations to electronic [3], optical [4], magnetic [5][6][7] or plasmonic [8,9] degrees of freedom. Strain-induced phenomena may be used to discover new material properties and develop new applications, for example the modification of optical and electronic properties in semiconductor nanostructures [10].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ultimate speed limits of such an ultrafast x-ray shutter are inferred from the detailed analysis of thermal and acoustic dynamics in TG experiments. [5][6][7] or plasmonic [8,9] degrees of freedom. Strain-induced phenomena may be used to discover new material properties and develop new applications, for example the modification of optical and electronic properties in semiconductor nanostructures [10].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Coherent Control of Thermal Excitations in Solids

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements of femtosecond laser-induced transient gratings (TG) are applied to demonstrate the spatio-temporal coherent control of thermally induced surface deformations on ultrafast timescales. Using grazing incidence x-ray diffraction we unambiguously measure the amplitude of transient surface deformations with sub-Å resolution. Understanding the dynamics of femtosecond TG excitations in terms of superposition of acoustic and thermal gratings makes it possible to develop new ways of coherent control in x-ray diffraction experiments. Being the dominant source of TG signal, the long-living thermal grating with spatial period Λ can be canceled by a second, time-delayed TG excitation shifted by Λ/2. The ultimate speed limits of such an ultrafast x-ray shutter are inferred from the detailed analysis of thermal and acoustic dynamics in TG experiments. [5][6][7] or plasmonic [8,9] degrees of freedom. Strain-induced phenomena may be used to discover new material properties and develop new applications, for example the modification of optical and electronic properties in semiconductor nanostructures [10]. Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are often employed as a source of lattice strain. They can be generated [11] and controlled [12] optically via the excitation of transient gratings (TGs) [13,14]. Recently, these TG-excitations heave been used to probe heat transport in suspended thin films [15] and magneto-elastic coupling in thin nickel films [16][17][18]. Optical excitation of a solid generates not only coherent sound waves but also incoherent thermal strain. Coherent excitations can be controlled in amplitude and phase by series of light pulses in time domain, which is labeled temporal coherent control [19]. The main fraction of the deposited optical energy is stored in incoherent excitations of the lattice, i.e., heat [20,21] which can consequently not be controlled by a temporal sequence of light pulses. This thermal lattice excitation often generates a background which makes is difficult to precisely observe the coherent acoustic signal in purely optical experiments.In this letter we demonstrate, for the first time, the coherent control of incoherent, thermal transient gratings. We apply spatio-temporal coherent control showing that the spatial part of coherent control adds a new degree of freedom to control the amplitude and the phase of a thermally deformed surface. This is clearly a new approach that introduces the concept of spatial coherent control to the dynamics of incoherent excitations on ultrafast time scales, a phenomenon impossible to achieve with temporal coherent control only. We also demonstrate the control of a transient thermal grating on a timescale faster than the oscillation of the simultaneously excited coherent acoustic modes. Our new quantitative method allows for decomposing the coherent and incoherent dynamics in the sample by measuring the amplitude of the surface excursion with sub-Å precision and ≈ 70 ps temporal resolution. The modification of x-ray diffracti...

show abstract

Femtosecond nonlinear ultrasonics in gold probed with ultrashort surface plasmons

Cited by 75 publications

References 35 publications

Nonlinear ultrafast acoustics at the nano scale

Nonlinear ultrafast acoustics at the nano scale

Nonlinear Acoustics at GHz Frequencies in a Viscoelastic Fragile Glass Former

Spatiotemporal Coherent Control of Thermal Excitations in Solids

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About