Simultaneous mapping of the ultrafast time and fluence dependence of the laser-induced insulator-to-metal transition in magnetite

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel imaging scheme that captures ultrafast insulator-to-metal transition dynamics in magnetite in a single shot, enhancing efficiency and resolution in x-ray pump-probe experiments.

Contribution

The authors develop a time-to-space mapping imaging method enabling single-shot measurement of ultrafast dynamics across multiple delays and fluences.

Findings

Successfully mapped ultrafast Verwey transition in magnetite

Demonstrated potential for single-shot data collection at higher photon energies

Enhanced experimental efficiency in ultrafast x-ray measurements

Abstract

Pump-probe methods are a ubiquitous tool in the field of ultrafast dynamic measurements. In recent years, x-ray free-electron laser experiments have gained importance due to their ability to probe with high chemical selectivity and at atomic length scales. Measurements are typically repeated many thousands of times to collect sufficient statistics and vary parameters like delay or fluence, necessitating that initial conditions are restored each time. An alternative is presented by experiments which measure the relevant parameters in a single shot. Here, we present a time-to-space mapping imaging scheme that enables us to record a range of delays and laser fluences in any single shot of the x-ray probe. We demonstrate the use of this scheme by mapping the ultrafast dynamics of the optically induced insulator-to-metal Verwey transition in a magnetite thin film, probed by soft x-ray resonant diffraction. By extrapolating our results toward the conditions found at x-ray free-electron lasers with higher photon energy, we demonstrate that the presented data could be recorded in a single shot.