Optical Properties in Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions
Open Access
- 8 February 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 96 (5), 055001
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.96.055001
Abstract
An open question about the dynamical behavior of materials is how phase transition occurs in highly nonequilibrium systems. One important class of study is the excitation of a solid by an ultrafast, intense laser. The preferential heating of electrons by the laser field gives rise to initial states dominated by hot electrons in a cold lattice. Using a femtosecond laser pump-probe approach, we have followed the temporal evolution of the optical properties of such a system. The results show interesting correlation to nonthermal melting and lattice disordering processes. They also reveal a liquid-plasma transition when the lattice energy density reaches a critical value.This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
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