Magneto-optical Control of Ordering Kinetics and Vacancy Behavior in Fe-Al Thin Films Quenched by Laser

TL;DR

This study investigates how laser quenching influences vacancy behavior and ordering kinetics in Fe-Al thin films, revealing magneto-optical effects that could enable novel phase state control in small crystal volumes.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of vacancy supersaturation and ordering kinetics in Fe-Al thin films subjected to laser annealing, expanding understanding of non-equilibrium defect behavior.

Findings

Vacancy supersaturation estimated through magneto-optical monitoring.

Laser quenching affects ordering kinetics and vacancy behavior.

Potential for creating new phase states in small crystal regions.

Abstract

One of issues arising in materials science is a behavior of non-equilibrium point defects in the atomic lattice, which defines the rates of chemical reactions and relaxation processes as well as affects the physical properties of solids. It is previously theoretically predicted that melting and rapid solidification of metals and alloys provides a vacancy concentration in the quenched material, which can be comparable to that quantity at the point of melting. Here, the vacancy behavior is studied exerimentally in thin films of the near equiatomic Fe-Al alloy subjected to nanosecond laser annealing with intensities up to film ablation. The effects of laser irradiation are studied by monitoring magneto-optically the ordering kinetics in the alloy at the very ablation edge, within a narrow (micron-scale) ring-shaped region around the ablation zone. Quantitatively, the vacancy supersaturation in the quenched alloy has been estimated by fitting a simulated temporal evolution of the long-range chemical order to the obtained experimental data. Laser quenching (LQ) of alloys and single-element materials would be a tool for obtaining novel phase states within a small volume of the crystal.