Response of fs-Laser-Irradiated Diamond by Ultrafast Electron Diffraction
Structural details of the proposed solid–liquid phase transition of carbon have remained elusive, despite years of study. While it is theorized that novel carbon materials form from a liquid precursor, experimental studies have lacked the temporal and spatial resolution necessary to fully characterize the purported liquid state. Here we utilize megaelectronvolt-ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV-UED) to study laser irradiated submicron diamond thin films in a pump–probe scheme with picosecond time resolution to visualize potential structural changes of excited diamond. We probe the structure of diamond using a combination of fluences (13, 40 J/cm2) and time delays (10, 25, 100 ps), but observe negligible changes in the static diffraction pattern of diamond and an overall decrease in diffraction intensity up to 100 ps after the excitation pulse. We thus conclude that no appreciable amount of liquid or graphitized carbon is present and highlight the structural resilience of bulk diamond to intense 800 nm ultrafast laser pulses.
Authors
- Patrick Krämer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3276-4075)
- Mianzhen Mo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2962-0815)
- Alastair Stacey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3794-0317)
- Sébastien Hamel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4246-0892)
- Xiaozhe Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8423-1022)
- Rebecca Lindsey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3438-9064)
- Shane W. Devlin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3189-5073)
- Duan Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5926-9870)
- Erika J. Riffe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7369-562X)
- Richard J. Saykally (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8942-3656)
- Steven Prawer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4959-0828)
- Heather D. Whitley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2344-8698)
- Alexander H. Reid (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7587-295X)
- Franky Bernal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6653-6367)
- Craig P. Schwartz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4149-2684)
- Athavan Nadarajah
Institutions
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Princeton University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (US)
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- MIT University (MK)
- NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (US)
- RMIT University (AU)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
- Published
- 2024-10-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c05999
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.23
Funders
- Office of the President, University of California
- Australian Research Council
- Basic Energy Sciences