Phys.org   March 13, 2024 Understanding phonon scattering has remained challenging and requires detailed information on interactions between phonons and electrons. An international team of researchers (USA – SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sweden, Italy) used an ultrafast electron diffuse scattering technique to resolve the nonequilibrium phonon dynamics in femtosecond–laser-excited tungsten in both time and momentum. They determined transient populations of phonon modes which show strong momentum dependence initiated by electron-phonon coupling. For phonons near Brillouin zone border, they observed a transient rise in their population on a timescale driven by the strong electron-phonon […]