Ultrafast light-induced shear strain probed by time-resolved X-ray diffraction: the model multiferroic BiFeO${}_3$ as a case study

Abstract

Enabling the light-control of complex systems on ultra-short timescales gives rise to rich physics with promising applications. While crucial, the quantitative determination of both the longitudinal and shear photo-induced strains still remains challenging. Here, by scrutinizing asymmetric Bragg peaks pairs $(\pm h01)$ using picosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction experiments in BiFeO${}_3$, we simultaneously determine the longitudinal and shear strains. The relative amplitude of those strains can be explained only if both thermal and non-thermal processes contribute to the acoustic phonon photogeneration process. Importantly, we also reveal a difference of the dynamical response of the longitudinal strain with respect to the shear one due to an interplay of quasi-longitudinal and quasi-transverse acoustic modes, well reproduced by our model.

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Concepts and use cases for picosecond ultrasonics with x-rays
• Superorders and acoustic modes folding in BiFeO${}_3$/LaFeO${}_3$ superlattices
• Understanding electronic excited states in BiFeO${}_3$ via ab initio calculations and symmetry analysis
• Photocarrier Transport of Ferroelectric Photovoltaic Thin Films Detected by the Magnetic Dynamics of Adjacent Ferromagnetic Layers
• Flipping of electronic spins in BiFeO${}_3$ via chiral $d-d$ excitations