Nanoscale depth-resolved coherent femtosecond motion in laser-excited bismuth

We employ grazing-incidence femtosecond x-ray diffraction to characterize the coherent, femtosecond laser-induced lattice motion of a bismuth crystal as a function of depth from the surface with a temporal resolution of 193 +/- 8 fs. The data show direct consequences on the lattice motion from carrier diffusion and electron-hole interaction, allowing us to estimate an effective diffusion rate of D=2.3 +/- 0.3 cm(2)/s for the highly excited carriers and an electron-hole interaction time of 260 +/- 20 fs.