We use ultrafast optical techniques to study highly non-equilibrium electron and lattice dynamics in semiconductors and metals � materials that are important for electronic and optoelectronic devices. Because of their miniaturization, electronic and optoelectronic devices operate increasingly in a regime of extremely high carrier density. We excite a very high number of electrons in a material by an intense optical pulse with a duration of less than a hundred femtoseconds. This allows us to create exotic states of matter that contain excited electronic populations 3 to 4 orders of magnitude larger compared to weak excitation studies.
Quick as a Flash: Observing Ultrafast Laser-Induced Dynamics in Semiconductors,
at
Physics Colloquium, University of Massachusetts at Lowell (Lowell, MA),
Wednesday, April 21, 1999: