Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 86: Surface dynamics
O 86.2: Talk
Thursday, March 12, 2026, 15:30–15:45, HSZ/0403
Ultrafast Structural Dynamics of Layered Material Surfaces — •Alp Akbiyik1,2, Felix Kurtz1,2, Hannes Böckmann1,2, and Claus Ropers1,2 — 1Department of Ultrafast Dynamics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany — 2University of Göttingen, 4th Physical Institute, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
Layered materials are promising candidates for studying and applying correlated phenomena, and their carrier dynamics have been extensively investigated, including through ultrafast pump-probe techniques. However, the structural evolution of their surface layers remains poorly accessible. Ultrafast low-energy electron diffraction (ULEED) leverages the surface sensitivity of low-energy electron pulses, with high spatial resolution and temporal resolution down to 1-2 ps. This allows us to monitor the momentum-dependent out-of-plane phonon populations across the Brillouin zone as well as changes in diffraction peak intensities [1,2]. Here, we contrast the phonon equilibration behaviour of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), such as WTe2, with graphite following electron-phonon coupling.
[1] G. Storeck et al., Structural Dynamics 7, 034304, 2020.
[2] F. Kurtz et al., Nat. Mater. 23, 890-897, 2024.
Keywords: low-energy electron diffraction; phonons; transition metal dichalcogenides