1. Imaging ultrafast electronic domain fluctuations with X-ray speckle visibility
- Author
-
Hua, N., Sun, Y., Rao, P., Hagström, N. Zhou, Stoychev, B. K., Lamb, E. S., Madhavi, M., Botu, S. T., Jeppson, S., Clémence, M., McConnell, A. G., Huang, S. -W., Zerdane, S., Mankowsky, R., Lemke, H. T., Sander, M., Esposito, V., Kramer, P., Zhu, D., Sato, T., Song, S., Fullerton, E. E., Shpyrko, O. G., Kukreja, R., and Gerber, S.
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons - Abstract
Speckle patterns manifesting from the interaction of coherent X-rays with matter offer a glimpse into the dynamics of nanoscale domains that underpin many emergent phenomena in quantum materials. While the dynamics of the average structure can be followed with time-resolved X-ray diffraction, the ultrafast evolution of local structures in nonequilibrium conditions have thus far eluded detection due to experimental limitations, such as insufficient X-ray coherent flux. Here we demonstrate a nonequilibrium speckle visibility experiment using a split-and-delay setup at an X-ray free-electron laser. Photoinduced electronic domain fluctuations of the magnetic model material Fe$_{3}$O$_{4}$ reveal changes of the trimeron network configuration due to charge dynamics that exhibit liquid-like fluctuations, analogous to a supercooled liquid phase. This suggests that ultrafast dynamics of electronic heterogeneities under optical stimuli are fundamentally different from thermally-driven ones.
- Published
- 2024