title: The formation of warm dense matter: experimental evidence for electronic bond hardening in gold.
abstract: Under strong optical excitation conditions, it is possible to create highly nonequilibrium states of matter. The nuclear response is determined by the rate of energy transfer from the excited electrons to the nuclei and the instantaneous effect of change in electron distribution on the interatomic potential energy landscape. We used femtosecond electron diffraction to follow the structural evolution of strongly excited gold under these transient electronic conditions. Generally, materials become softer with excitation. In contrast, the rate of disordering of the gold lattice is found to be retarded at excitation levels up to 2.85 megajoules per kilogram with respect to the degree of lattice heating, which is indicative of increased lattice stability at high effective electronic temperatures, a predicted effect that illustrates the strong correlation between electronic structure and lattice bonding.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Optical Sciences and Departments of Chemistry and Physics, 80 Saint George Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H6, Canada.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ernstorfer
authors.forename: Maher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harb
authors.forename: Christoph T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Hebeisen
authors.forename: Germán
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sciaini
authors.forename: Thibault
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dartigalongue
authors.forename: R J Dwayne
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Miller