title: Multiple Supersonic Phase Fronts Launched at a Complex-Oxide Heterointerface.
abstract: Selective optical excitation of a substrate lattice can drive phase changes across heterointerfaces. This phenomenon is a nonequilibrium analogue of static strain control in heterostructures and may lead to new applications in optically controlled phase change devices. Here, we make use of time-resolved nonresonant and resonant x-ray diffraction to clarify the underlying physics and to separate different microscopic degrees of freedom in space and time. We measure the dynamics of the lattice and that of the charge disproportionation in NdNiO_{3}, when an insulator-metal transition is driven by coherent lattice distortions in the LaAlO_{3} substrate. We find that charge redistribution propagates at supersonic speeds from the interface into the NdNiO_{3} film, followed by a sonic lattice wave. When combined with measurements of magnetic disordering and of the metal-insulator transition, these results establish a hierarchy of events for ultrafast control at complex-oxide heterointerfaces.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Först
authors.affiliation: Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Beyerlein
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mankowsky
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mattoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Quantum Matter Physics, Université de Genève, 1211 Genève, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.affiliation: Department of Quantum Matter Physics, Université de Genève, 1211 Genève, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gibert
authors.affiliation: Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yefanov
authors.affiliation: Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Stanford Pulse Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.|Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frano
authors.affiliation: Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Glownia
authors.affiliation: Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chollet
authors.affiliation: Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lemke
authors.affiliation: Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.affiliation: Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Dhesi
authors.affiliation: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Caviglia
authors.affiliation: Department of Quantum Matter Physics, Université de Genève, 1211 Genève, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J-M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Triscone
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavalleri