Transient Grating Spectroscopy
In transient grating spectroscopy, two laser beams can detect atomic-level objects and events. The method is used for materials characterization in the field of metrology and is classified as a non-destructive investigative technique because the sample is not damaged in any way by inspection.
The two light beams create an interference pattern when they interact with one another. This is a function of light’s wave physics and is a similar phenomenon to the patterns caused by two or more wave directions meeting on a water surface.
Laser light beams create a temporary interference pattern when they interact with one another, which is also known as transient grating. Although the pattern moves, it also repeats at regular intervals. These repeated instances of the transient grating are also known as Talbot planes.
Credit: Paul Scherrer Institute/Mahir Dzambegovic
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have succeeded for the first time in looking inside materials using the method of transient grating spectroscopy with ultrafast X-rays at SwissFEL. The experiment at PSI is a milestone in observing processes in the world of atoms. The researchers are publishing their research results today in the journal
Nature Photonics.
The structures on microchips are becoming ever tinier; hard disks write entire encyclopedias on magnetic disks the size of a fingernail. Many technologies are currently breaking through the boundaries of classical physics. But in the nanoworld, other laws apply - those of quantum physics. And there are still many unanswered questions: How does heat actually travel through a semiconductor material at the nanoscale? What exactly happens when individual bits are magnetised in a computer hard disk, and how fast can we write? There are still no answers to these and many