• Accepted Paper

Photoinduced phase heterogeneity and charge localization in SnSe

Benjamin J. Dringoli, Stefano Mocatti, Giovanni Marini, Zhongzhen Luo, Matteo Calandra, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, and David G. Cooke

Phys. Rev. B - Accepted 29 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/q8qh-zyfq

Abstract

Time-resolved multi-terahertz (THz) spectroscopy is used to observe pump fluence-dependent dynamics in the optical conductivity of photoexcited tin selenide (SnSe) over an ultrabroadband spectral range of 0.5 - 11~THz at fluences from 0.1 - 7.5~mJ/cm2. A free carrier Drude spectrum is observed at pump fluences below 1~mJ/cm2, with optical phonons well described by the equilibrium Pnma structural phase. With increasing fluence, a suppression of the DC photoconductivity is observed, indicating an interruption of long range transport due to phase disorder. Concomitantly, the optical phonons exhibit features that can no longer be explained by a pure Pnma phase, with a frequency shift and narrowing of the B1u2 mode and a new mode appearing at $3.0THzconsistentwithatransitiontoahigher−symmetrystructure.Atanintermediatefluenceof3.1mJ/cm^2$, a high frequency Lorentzian component consistent with phase heterogeneity appears that rapidly redshifts after 2~ps and whose amplitude exponentially decays on a 90~ps time scale. Our experimental measurements and theoretical calculations provide evidence for a non-thermal, photo-induced nucleation of higher symmetry, semi-metallic phase domains in SnSe appearing within 200~fs.

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