Erschienen in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Sprache:
Englisch
ISSN:
0027-8424
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Beschreibung:
<p>The interplay of vibrational motion and electronic charge relocation in an ionic hydrogen-bonded crystal is mapped by X-ray powder diffraction with a 100 fs time resolution. Photoexcitation of the prototype material KH₂PO₄ induces coherent low-frequency motions of the PO₄ tetrahedra in the electronically excited state of the crystal while the average atomic positions remain unchanged. Time-dependent maps of electron density derived from the diffraction data demonstrate an oscillatory relocation of electronic charge with a spatial amplitude two orders of magnitude larger than the underlying vibrational lattice motions. Coherent longitudinal optical and tranverse optical phonon motions that dephase on a time scale of several picoseconds, drive the charge relocation, similar to a soft (transverse optical) mode driven phase transition between the ferro- and paraelectric phase of KH₂PO₄.</p>