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An atomic-level view of melting using femtosecond electron diffraction Featured

authors
BJ Siwick, JR Dwyer, RE Jordan, and RJD Miller
date published
Nov. 21, 2003
journal
Science
volume, number
302 (5649)
pages
1382-1385
doi
10.1126/science.1090052
ISSN
0036-8075
abstract

We used 600-femtosecond electron pulses to study the structural evolution of aluminum as it underwent an ultrafast laser–induced solid-liquid phase transition. Real-time observations showed the loss of long-range order that was present in the crystalline phase and the emergence of the liquid structure where only short-range atomic correlations were present; this transition occurred in 3.5picoseconds for thin-film aluminum with an excitation fluence of 70 millijoules per square centimeter. The sensitivity and time resolution were sufficient to capture the time-dependent pair correlation function as the system evolved from the solid to the liquid state. These observations provide an atomic-level description of the melting process, in which the dynamics are best understood as a thermal phase transition under strongly driven conditions.