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Abstract:
We apply ultrafast x-ray diffraction with femtosecond temporal resolution to monitor the lattice
dynamics in a thin film of multiferroic BiFeO3 after above-band-gap photoexcitation. The sound-velocity
limited evolution of the observed lattice strains indicates a quasi-instantaneous photoinduced stress which
decays on a nanosecond time scale. This stress exhibits an inhomogeneous spatial profile evidenced by the
broadening of the Bragg peak. These new data require substantial modification of existing models of
photogenerated stresses in BiFeO3: the relevant excited charge carriers must remain localized to be
consistent with the data.