Observation of inhibited electron-ion coupling in strongly heated graphite

Abstract

Creating non-equilibrium states of matter with highly unequal electron and lattice temperatures allows unsurpassed insight into the dynamic coupling between electrons and ions through time-resolved energy relaxation measurements. Recent studies on low-temperature laser-heated graphite suggest a complex energy exchange when compared to other materials. To avoid problems related to surface preparation, crystal quality and poor understanding of the energy deposition and transport mechanisms, we apply a different energy deposition mechanism, via laser-accelerated protons, to isochorically and non-radiatively heat macroscopic graphite samples up to temperatures close to the melting threshold. Using time-resolved x ray diffraction, we show clear evidence of a very small electron-ion energy transfer, yielding approximately three times longer relaxation times than previously reported. This is indicative of the existence of an energy transfer bottleneck in non-equilibrium warm dense matter.

5 Pages

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Electron-phonon coupling in metals at high electronic temperatures
• Ab initio model of optical properties of two-temperature warm dense matter
• Electron-ion coupling in semiconductors beyond Fermi's golden rule
• Electronic and atomic kinetics in solids irradiated with free-electron lasers or swift-heavy ions
• Reconciling anomalously fast heating rate in ion tracks with low electron-phonon coupling
• Comparison of electron-ion energy transfer in dense plasmas obtained from numerical simulations and quantum kinetic theory
• Exchange-correlation effect in the charge response of a warm dense electron gas
• Revealing Non-equilibrium and Relaxation in Warm Dense Matter
• A Molecular Dynamics Study of Laser-Excited Gold
• Quantum theory for the dynamic microstructure in correlated two-component systems far from equilibrium -- Application to x-ray scattering
• The structure in warm dense carbon