Observation of structural anisotropy and the onset of liquidlike motion during the nonthermal melting of InSb

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Sep 16;95(12):125701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.125701. Epub 2005 Sep 12.

Abstract

The melting dynamics of laser excited InSb have been studied with femtosecond x-ray diffraction. These measurements observe the delayed onset of diffusive atomic motion, signaling the appearance of liquidlike dynamics. They also demonstrate that the root-mean-squared displacement in the [111] direction increases faster than in the [110] direction after the first 500 fs. This structural anisotropy indicates that the initially generated fluid differs significantly from the equilibrium liquid.