Photostrictive properties of ferroelectric GeTe epitaxial thin films with sub-nanosecond time resolution

The possibility of using light to control complex systems on ultra-short timescales provides a powerful tool to probe fundamental phenomena in solid state physics and is promising for future applications. In this proposal we aim at studying the light-induced strain fields in ferroelectric/ferroelastic GeTe thin films with sub-nanosecond time resolution. In order to study the photostrictive properties of GeTe thin film and the temporal dynamics we plan to carry out time-resolved x-ray diffraction and measure symmetric and asymmetric Bragg peaks. By analysing the dynamics of shear and longitudinal strain components we will address the contribution of thermal and non-thermal processes resulting from the photoexcitation of charge carriers in GeTe.