IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v442y2006i7103d10.1038_nature05041.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tracking the motion of charges in a terahertz light field by femtosecond X-ray diffraction

Author

Listed:
  • A. Cavalleri

    (University of Oxford
    Central Laser Facility & Diamond Light Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
    Diamond Light Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)

  • S. Wall

    (University of Oxford)

  • C. Simpson

    (University of Oxford)

  • E. Statz

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • D. W. Ward

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • K. A. Nelson

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • M. Rini

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • R. W. Schoenlein

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Abstract

Many ions make light work The elementary particles of light that propagate through air are photons. But when light propagates through condensed matter, it couples to the underlying lattice, resulting in complex particles such as polaritons. A new study makes use of ultrafast X-ray diffraction to directly observe atomic displacements that support such optical excitations in a solid. In this study, terahertz radiation propagating through the ferroelectric lithium tantalate (LiTaO3) couples to lattice vibrations, resulting in phonon-polariton waves. This new X-ray diffraction technique makes it possible to follow the absolute displacements of ions in the lattice that underlie the propagation of these waves.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Cavalleri & S. Wall & C. Simpson & E. Statz & D. W. Ward & K. A. Nelson & M. Rini & R. W. Schoenlein, 2006. "Tracking the motion of charges in a terahertz light field by femtosecond X-ray diffraction," Nature, Nature, vol. 442(7103), pages 664-666, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:442:y:2006:i:7103:d:10.1038_nature05041
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05041
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature05041?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:442:y:2006:i:7103:d:10.1038_nature05041. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.