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Time-resolved transient grating (TG) spectroscopy facilitates detailed studies of electron dynamics and transport phenomena by means of a periodic excitation of matter with coherent ultrashort light pulses. Several current and next generation free-electron laser (FEL) facilities provide fully coherent pulses with few femtosecond pulse durations and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photon energies. Thus, they allow for transient grating experiments with periodicities as small as tens of nanometers and with element specific photon energies. Here, we demonstrate the element specificity of XUV TG (X-TG) experiments by tuning the photon energy across the Si L2,3-edge of Si3N4. We observe a shortening of the signal decay when increasing the XUV photon energy above the absorption edge. The analysis of the wavelength dependent signal shows that the faster decay is driven by the increase in the charge carrier density. From the decay constants the interband Auger coefficient at elevated temperatures and high electron densities has been determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the original published article,[1] the following sentence was omitted from the acknowledgments: the participation of the MIT group, A.A.M. and K.N., was supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Contract No. DE-SC0019126. A.C., H.M.F., Z.O., and T.F. acknowledge funding by the NCCR MUST research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation. The participation of the MIT group, A.A.M. and K.N., was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Contract No. DE-SC0019126. [Extracted from the article]