Friday, July 31, 2026
Science

Laser pulses set layered metals vibrating 1 trillion times per second, revealing electron-driven motion

How does light turn into motion within a metal? A team of researchers from European XFEL, the University of Potsdam and other participating institutions has shown that ultrashort optical laser pulses can trigger extremely rapid lattice vibrations in periodically layered metal structures—not primaril...

Laser pulses set layered metals vibrating 1 trillion times per second, revealing electron-driven motion
Image: Phys.org
How does light turn into motion within a metal? A team of researchers from European XFEL, the University of Potsdam and other participating institutions has shown that ultrashort optical laser pulses can trigger extremely rapid lattice vibrations in periodically layered metal structures—not primarily by heating the atomic lattice, but through the pressure exerted by hot electrons. The results are published in Nature Communications.

Originally published at Phys.org

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