We discuss our experiments that apply ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) to study structural dynamics of the phase transition in single crystal tantalum ditelluride, TaTe2, a quasi-2D quantum material which exhibits a trimer superstructure at cryogenic temperatures. Intense near-infrared (NIR) pulses at 1030 nm are employed to quench the low temperature, atomically ordered state and the process is captured by ultrashort bunches of electrons as a function of pump-probe time delay. The diffraction signatures of the trimer superstructure recover on picosecond time scales. These measurements of TaTe2 underscore moreover the applicability of the HiRES UED beamline at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to probe ultrafast structural dynamics of complex materials.
Ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) has become a leading technique for investigation of structural dynamics in solids providing high spatial and temporal resolutions. Radio frequency (RF) based photoinjectors providing Mega-electron-volt (MeV) scale electron beams are improving the source brightness and instrument versatility and are largely responsible for advancement of the field of structural dynamics. At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), an RF photoinjector gun for ultrafast structural studies using UED has been in development and is now producing high-quality scientific results. Here we describe some factors that enable UED of materials at LBNL and present some exemplary results.
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