Laser-induced phase separation of silicon carbide

Understanding the phase separation mechanism of solid-state binary compounds induced by laser-material interaction is a challenge because of the complexity of the compound materials and short processing times. Here we present xenon chloride excimer laser-induced melt-mediated phase separation and surface reconstruction of single-crystal silicon carbide and study this process by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and a time-resolved reflectance method. A single-pulse laser irradiation triggers melting of the silicon carbide surface, resulting in a phase separation into a disordered carbon layer with partially graphitic domains (???2.5 nm) and polycrystalline silicon (???5 nm). Additional pulse irradiations cause sublimation of only the separated silicon element and subsequent transformation of the disordered carbon layer into multilayer graphene. The results demonstrate viability of synthesizing ultra-thin nanomaterials by the decomposition of a binary system.open

Fibre-optic photon-number squeezing in the normal group-velocity dispersion regime

The nonlinear optical Kerr effect, acting on optical pulses in fibres, creates spectral sidebands and noise correlations between these sidebands. The reduction of photon-number fluctuations of these pulses below the shot-noise limit by spectral filtering is well established in the anomalous dispersion regime which allows for soliton formation. Here it is demonstrated that a significant quantum-noise reduction with spectral filtering can also be reached for pulses in the normal dispersion regime. The filter function was optimized and the power dependence of the noise reduction was investigated. The best squeezing result is (1.2 +/- 0.2) dB (corresponding to (2.6 +/- 0.7) dB inferred for 100% detection efficiency)

Non-thermal melting in semiconductors measured at femtosecond resolution

International audienceUltrafast time-resolved optical spectroscopy has revealed new classes of physical, chemical and biological reactions, in which directed, deterministic motions of atoms have a key role. This contrasts with the random, diffusive motion of atoms across activation barriers that typically determines kinetic rates on slower timescales. An example of these new processes is the ultrafast melting of semiconductors, which is believed to arise from a strong modification of the inter-atomic forces owing to laser-induced promotion of a large fraction (10% or more) of the valence electrons to the conduction band. The atoms immediately begin to move and rapidly gain sufficient kinetic energy to induce melting—much faster than the several picoseconds required to convert the electronic energy into thermal motions. Here we present measurements of the characteristic melting time of InSb with a recently developed technique of ultrafast time-resolved X-ray diffraction that, in contrast to optical spectroscopy, provides a direct probe of the changing atomic structure. The data establish unambiguously a loss of long-range order up to 900 Å inside the crystal, with time constants as short as 350 femtoseconds. This ability to obtain the quantitative structural characterization of non-thermal processes should find widespread application in the study of ultrafast dynamics in other physical, chemical and biological systems