Journal
NATURE PHOTONICS
Volume 6, Issue 2, Pages 111-114Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2011.327
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Funding
- US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Science [DE-SC0004078]
- US Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science [DE-AC02-06CH11357]
- National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources [RR007707]
- NIH/NIDDK
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) [DE-SC0004078] Funding Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
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Ultrafast dynamics in atomic, molecular and condensed-matter systems are increasingly being studied using optical-pump, X-ray probe techniques where subpicosecond laser pulses excite the system and X-rays detect changes in absorption spectra and local atomic structure(1-3). New opportunities are appearing as a result of improved synchrotron capabilities and the advent of X-ray free-electron lasers(4,5). These source improvements also allow for the reverse measurement: X-ray pump followed by optical probe. We describe here how an X-ray pump beam transforms a thin GaAs specimen from a strong absorber into a nearly transparent window in less than 100 ps, for laser photon energies just above the bandgap. We find the opposite effect-X-ray induced optical opacity-for photon energies just below the bandgap. This raises interesting questions about the ultrafast many-body response of semiconductors to X-ray absorption, and provides a new approach for an X-ray/optical cross-correlator for synchrotron and X-ray free-electron laser applications.
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