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Molecular Foundry

HIGHLIGHTSFirst Photo-induced Melting of Tantalum Ditelluride
August 10, 2021

Scientific Achievement

Proposed stages of the photo-induced dynamics in TaTe2. (I). Near-infrared excitation promotes carriers from bonding to non-bonding states which results in melting of the trimer clusters and leaves behind stripe-like trimer chains (II). Subsequently, the lattice subsystem thermalizes, causing the (3 × 3) superstructure to re-establish and stablize at elevated temperatures (III).

A team of Foundry staff and users have performed the first ultrafast electron diffraction measurements of TaTe2 and observed light-induced melting of its charge and lattice orders.

Significance and Impact

This is the first ultrafast measurement of TaTe2 and demonstrates that light can be used to induce structural and electronic changes in this material. It paves the way for light-driven control of TaTe2 for ultrafast switching applications.

Research Details

  • The research team used ultrafast electron diffraction to prove the time evolution of the lattice order of TaTe2 after intense near-infrared excitation and observed light-induced melting of its charge and lattice orders, and the subsequent thermalization into a hot superstructure phase.
  • Density Functional Theory simulations clarified the mechanism driving the photo-induced phase transitions.
K.M. Siddiqui, D.B. Durham, F. Cropp, C. Ophus, S. Rajpurohit, Y. Zhu, J.D. Carlstrom, C. Stavrakas, Z. Mao, A. Raja, P. Musumeci, L.Z. Tan, A.M.Minor, D. Filippetto, R.A. Kaindl . Comm. Phys. 2021 4, 152. DOI: 10.1038/s42005-021-00650-z

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