Ultrafast Electronic Disordering During Femtosecond Laser Melting of GaAs

Authors

Peter N. Saeta, Harvey Mudd CollegeFollow
J.-K. Wang, Harvard University
Y. Siegal, Harvard University
N. Bloembergen, Harvard University
E. Mazur, Harvard University

Document Type

Article

Department

Physics (HMC)

Publication Date

8-1991

Abstract

We have observed an ultrarapid electronic phase transformation to a centrosymmetric electronic state during laser excitation of GaAs with intense femtosecond pulses. Reflection second-harmonic intensity from the upper 90 atomic layers vanishes within 100 fs; reflectivity rises within 0.5 ps to a steady value characteristic of a metallic molten phase, long before phonon emission can heat the lattice to the melting temperature.

Comments

This article is also available from the American Physical Society at http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.1023.

Rights Information

© 1991 American Physical Society

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.1023

Recommended Citation

“Ultrafast electronic disordering during femtosecond laser melting of GaAs,” P. Saeta, J.-K. Wang, Y. Siegal, N. Bloembergen, and E. Mazur, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 1023 (1991). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.1023