Unusual photoinduced crystal structure dynamics in TaTe2 with double zigzag chain superstructure

Transition metal dichalcogenides with superperiodic lattice distortions have been widely investigated as the platform of ultrafast structural phase manipulations. Here we performed ultrafast electron diffraction on RT TaTe _2 , which exhibits a peculiar double zigzag chain pattern of Ta atoms. From the time-dependent electron diffraction pattern, we revealed a photoinduced change in the crystal structure occurring within