arXiv subjects

Jure Demsar

Publications and source records attributed to Jure Demsar.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Time- and momentum-resolved photoemission studies using time-of-flight momentum microscopy at a free-electron laser

Time-resolved photoemission with ultrafast pump and probe pulses is an emerging technique with wide application potential. Real-time recording of non-equilibrium electronic processes, transient states in chemical reactions or the interplay of electronic and structural dynamics offers fascinating opportunities for future research. Combining valence-band and core-level spectroscopy with photoelectron diffraction for electronic, chemical and structural analysis requires few 10 fs soft X-ray pulses with some 10 meV spectral resolution, which are currently available at high repetition rate free-electron lasers. The PG2 beamline at FLASH (DESY, Hamburg) provides a high pulse rate of 5000 pulses/s, 60 fs pulse duration and 40 meV bandwidth in an energy range of 25-830 eV with a photon beam size down to 50 microns in diameter. We have constructed and optimized a versatile setup commissioned at FLASH/PG2 that combines FEL capabilities together with a multidimensional recording scheme for photoemission studies. We use a full-field imaging momentum microscope with time-of-flight energy recording as the detector for mapping of 3D band structures in ($k_x$, $k_y$, $E$) parameter space with unprecedented efficiency. Our instrument can image full surface Brillouin zones with up to 7 Å $^{-1}$ diameter in a binding-energy range of several eV, resolving about $2.5\times10^5$ data voxels. As an example, we present results for the ultrafast excited state dynamics in the model van der Waals semiconductor WSe$_2$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Tracking the time-evolution of the electron distribution function in Copper by femtosecond broadband optical spectroscopy

Multi-temperature models are nowadays often used to quantify the ultrafast electron-phonon (boson) relaxations and coupling strengths in advanced quantum solids. To test their applicability we study the time evolution of the electron distribution function, f(E), in Cu over large range of excitation densities using broadband time-resolved optical spectroscopy. Following intraband optical excitation, f(E) is found to be athermal over several 100 fs, while substantial part of the absorbed energy already being transferred to the lattice. We show, however, that the electron-phonon coupling constant can still be obtained using the two-temperature model analysis, provided that the data are analyzed over the time-window, when the electrons are already quasi thermal, and the electronic temperature is determined experimentally.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Photoinduced Fano-resonance of coherent phonons in zinc

Utilizing femtosecond optical pump-probe technique, we have studied transient Fano-resonance in zinc. At high excitation levels the Fourier spectrum of the coherent E$_{2g}$ phonon exhibits strongly asymmetric line shape, which is well modeled by the Fano function. The Fano parameter (1/Q) was found to be strongly excitation fluence dependent while depending weakly on the initial lattice temperature. We attribute the origin of the Fano-resonance to the coupling of coherent phonon to the electronic continuum, with their transition probabilities strongly renormalized in the vicinity of the photoinduced structural transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Photoexcited electron dynamics in Kondo insulators and heavy fermions

We have studied the photoexcited carrier relaxation dynamics in the Kondo insulator SmB6 and the heavy fermion metal YbAgCu4 as a function of temperature and excitation level. The dynamic response is found to be both strongly temperature dependent and nonlinear. The data are analyzed with a Rothwarf-Taylor bottleneck model, where the dynamics are governed by the presence of a narrow gap in the density of states near the Fermi level. The remarkable agreement with the model suggests that carrier relaxation in a broad class of heavy electron systems (both metals and insulators) is governed by the presence of a (weakly temperature dependent) hybridization gap.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Ultrafast dynamics of coherent optical phonons and nonequilibrium electrons in transition metals

The femtosecond optical pump-probe technique was used to study dynamics of photoexcited electrons and coherent optical phonons in transition metals Zn and Cd as a function of temperature and excitation level. The optical response in time domain is well fitted by linear combination of a damped harmonic oscillation because of excitation of coherent $E_{2g}$ phonon and a subpicosecond transient response due to electron-phonon thermalization. The electron-phonon thermalization time monotonically increases with temperature, consistent with the thermomodulation scenario, where at high temperatures the system can be well explained by the two-temperature model, while below $\approx$ 50 K the nonthermal electron model needs to be applied. As the lattice temperature increases, the damping of the coherent $E_{2g}$ phonon increases, while the amplitudes of both fast electronic response and the coherent $E_{2g}$ phonon decrease. The temperature dependence of the damping of the $E_{2g}$ phonon indicates that population decay of the coherent optical phonon due to anharmonic phonon-phonon coupling dominates the decay process. We present a model that accounts for the observed temperature dependence of the amplitude assuming the photoinduced absorption mechanism, where the signal amplitude is proportional to the photoinduced change in the quasiparticle density. The result that the amplitude of the $E_{2g}$ phonon follows the temperature dependence of the amplitude of the fast electronic transient indicates that under the resonant condition both electronic and phononic responses are proportional to the change in the dielectric function.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2002

Carrier relaxation dynamics in high temperature superconductors

In this report we review recent experimental results on photoexcited carrier relaxation dynamics on high temperature superconductors (HTSC) probed by a femtosecond time-resolved optical spectroscopy, and compare the results with the data obtained on quasi two dimensional charge density waves. In these experiments, a femtosecond laser pump pulse excites electron-hole pairs via an inter-band transition in the material. These hot carriers rapidly release their energy via electron-electron and electron-phonon collisions reaching states near the Fermi energy within ~100 fs. If an energy gap is present in the low-energy density of states (DOS), it inhibits the final relaxation step and photoexcited carriers accumulate above the gap causing a transient change in reflectivity arising from excited state absorption. The relaxation and recombination processes of photoexcited quasiparticles, governed by the magnitude, anisotropy and the T-dependence of the low energy gap, are monitored by measuring the resulting photoinduced absorption as a function of time after the photoexcitation. This way, the studies of carrier relaxation dynamics give us direct information of the T-dependent changes in the low energy DOS. The technique is particularly useful to probe the systems with spatial inhomogeneities, where different local environments give rise to different relaxation rates. The data on series of HTSC-s show evidence for the coexistence of two distinct relaxation processes, whose T-dependences seem to be governed by two different energy scales: a T-independent pseudogap and a mean-field-like T-dependent gap that opens at Tc. The data suggest the origin of the two-gap behavior is in the intrinsic microscopic spatial inhomogeneity of these materials.

cond-mat.supr-con↗