Laser-induced transient structure and stress in a platinum(111) crystal studied by time-resolved X-ray diffraction

Nanosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction has been employed to study the transient structure deformation of a Pt(111) crystal induced by laser pulse heating. A direct-imaging X-ray CCD system with high spatial resolution allowed the detection of structural changes of the order of 10^-3 Å. The time evolution of lattice strain was measured with 12 ns resolution. The lattice spacings were found to suffer a transient change from 2.2653 to 2.2695 (10) Å, and the strain reached its maximum value 10 ns after laser irradiation.