Aurore: A platform for ultrafast sciences

Ultrafast relaxation investigated by photoelectron circular dichroism: an isomeric comparison of camphor and fenchone

We study the isomeric effects using time resolved photoelectron circular dichroism (TR-PECD). Using a (1 + 1') pump-probe ionisation scheme with photoelectrons collected by the velocity map imaging technique, we compare the relaxation dynamics from the 3s-Rydberg state in 1R,4R-(+)-camphor with the one in its chiral isomer, 1R,4S-(-)-fenchone [Comby et al., 2016, JPCL, 7, 4514]. Our measurements revealed a similar lifetime for both isomers. However, the circular dichroism in the photoelectron angular distribution decays exponentially in ∼730 fs from a +9% forward amplitude during the first hundreds of femtoseconds to reach an asymptotic -2% backward amplitude. This time-scale is drastically shorter than in fenchone. Our analysis allows us to evaluate the impact of the anisotropy of excitation; the relaxation dynamics, following photoexcitation by the linearly polarized pump, is then compared to that induced by a circularly polarized pump pulse (CPL). With such a CPL pump, we then retrieve time constants of our chiral observables similar to the ones recorded in fenchone. Quantum and classical simulations are developed and used to decipher the dependence of the PECD on the anisotropy of excitation and the spatial distribution of the 3s-Rydberg electron wavefunction. Our experimental investigations, supported by our simulations, suggest that varying the pump ellipticity enables us to reveal the breakdown of the Franck-Condon approximation.

Sub-Picosecond Non-Equilibrium States in the Amorphous Phase of GeTe Phase-Change Material Thin Films

The sub-picosecond response of amorphous germanium telluride thin film to a femtosecond laser excitation is investigated using frequency-domain interferometry and ab initio molecular dynamics. The time-resolved measurement of the surface dynamics reveals a shrinkage of the film with a dielectric properties' response faster than 300 fs. The systematic ab initio molecular dynamics simulations in non-equilibrium conditions allow the atomic configurations to be retrieved for ionic temperature from 300 to 1100 K and width of the electron distribution from 0.001 to 1.0 eV. Local order of the structures is characterized by in-depth analysis of the angle distribution, phonon modes, and pair distribution function, which evidence a transition toward a new amorphous electronic excited state close in bonding/structure to the liquid state. The results shed a new light on the optically highly excited states in chalcogenide materials involved in both important processes: phase-change materials in memory devices and ovonic threshold switching phenomenon induced by a static field.