Time-resolved X-ray measurements of energy relaxation in ultrafast laser excited semiconductors

In semiconductors, the properties and dynamics of photoexcited carriers and subsequent energy relaxation through lattice vibrations are quite complex and occur on a variety of time scales. Typically the transient dynamics involving transitions of electrons from lower energy states to higher ones upon photoexcitation take place almost instantaneously. The electrons eventually recombine with holes while losing most of their kinetic energy to the lattice through various routes at different time scales. The lattice relaxation processes, especially at high photoexcitation levels, have been subjected to numerous experimental and theoretical investigations during past decades.; Time-resolved X-ray diffraction (TRXD) method provides a novel tool for studying these dynamics because X-rays have short wavelength, long material penetration depth and relatively strong interaction with core electrons. In my work, femtosecond laser pulses excite electrons in opaque materials, and subsequent carrier relaxation process and coherent/incoherent lattice dynamics are investigated using TRXD. My thesis covers quantitative detail of the generation and propagation of ultrafast laser induces acoustic strain waves in bulk semiconductor materials as well as at the heterostructure interface. In particular propagation of strain waves, which are comprised of broadband low wave vector phonons, is studied in an AlGaAs/GaAs multilayer structure. The spatial and temporal profiles of the acoustic waves at varying photoexcitation density are characterized. We are able to distinguish thermal from carrier-induced strain and measure the free-carrier absorption cross-section. The approximation that impulsively generated acoustic waves are uniaxial is found to break down. The research also demonstrates a novel approach to explore laser induced acoustic phonon dynamics at high wavevector, near the Brillouin zone-boundary, the details of which are inaccessible to optical pump-probe methods. Throughout this thesis, the validity and limits of our theoretical model of high frequency acoustic phonon generation are examined. Toward the end, theoretical and experimental challenges are addressed and possible solutions are presented.