1. Exchange-Striction Driven Ultrafast Nonthermal Lattice Dynamics in NiO
- Author
-
Y. W. Windsor, Hélène Seiler, Laurenz Rettig, Ralph Ernstorfer, M. Ramsteiner, Cheng-Tien Chiang, J. Feldl, Daniela Zahn, R. Kamrla, and Wolf Widdra
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Materials Science ,Materials science ,Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) ,Condensed matter physics ,Scattering ,business.industry ,Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Physics::Optics ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Bragg's law ,01 natural sciences ,Ion ,Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons ,Semiconductor ,Electron diffraction ,Lattice (order) ,0103 physical sciences ,Femtosecond ,Antiferromagnetism ,Condensed Matter::Strongly Correlated Electrons ,010306 general physics ,business - Abstract
We use femtosecond electron diffraction to study ultrafast lattice dynamics in the highly correlated antiferromagnetic (AF) semiconductor NiO. Using the scattering vector (Q) dependence of Bragg diffraction, we introduce a Q-resolved effective lattice temperature, and identify a nonthermal lattice state with preferential displacement of O compared to Ni ions, which occurs within ~0.3 ps and persists for 25 ps. We associate this with transient changes to the AF exchange striction-induced lattice distortion, supported by the observation of a transient Q-asymmetry of Friedel pairs. Our observation highlights the role of spin-lattice coupling in routes towards ultrafast control of spin order., Manuscript and supplement combined in one file
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF