Picosecond x-ray studies of coherent folded acoustic phonons in a multiple quantum well.

Coherent folded acoustic phonons in a multilayered GaSb/InAs epitaxial heterostructure were generated by femtosecond laser pulses and studied by means of ultrafast x-ray diffraction. Coherent phonons excited simultaneously in the fundamental acoustic branch and the first back-folded branch were dete...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sondhauss, P, Larsson, J, Harbst, M, Naylor, G, Plech, A, Scheidt, K, Synnergren, O, Wulff, M, Wark, J
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2005
Description
Summary:Coherent folded acoustic phonons in a multilayered GaSb/InAs epitaxial heterostructure were generated by femtosecond laser pulses and studied by means of ultrafast x-ray diffraction. Coherent phonons excited simultaneously in the fundamental acoustic branch and the first back-folded branch were detected. This represents the first clear evidence for phonon branch folding based directly on the atomic motion to which x-ray diffraction is sensitive. From a comparison of the measured phonon-modulated x-ray reflectivity with simulations, evidence was found for a reduction of the laser penetration depth. This reduction can be explained by the self-modulation of the refractive index due to photogenerated free carriers.