2024/08/19 by Nelson Hua, Yiwen Sun, Hua, N. +47
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2408.10050
openalex publication_date 2024/08/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Speckle patterns manifesting from the interaction of coherent X-rays with matter offer a glimpse into the dynamics of nanoscale domains that underpin many emergent phenomena in quantum materials. While the dynamics of the average structure can be followed with time-resolved X-ray diffraction, the ultrafast evolution of local structures in nonequilibrium conditions have thus far eluded detection due to experimental limitations, such as insufficient X-ray coherent flux. Here we demonstrate a nonequilibrium speckle visibility experiment using a split-and-delay setup at an X-ray free-electron laser. Photoinduced electronic domain fluctuations of the magnetic model material Fe3O4 reveal changes of the trimeron network configuration due to charge dynamics that exhibit liquid-like fluctuations, analogous to a supercooled liquid phase. This suggests that ultrafast dynamics of electronic heterogeneities under optical stimuli are fundamentally different from thermally-driven ones.