Defect-induced nanometer scale surface melting and strong optical nonlinearity of Ga below the melting point

摘要

The theory of nanoscale surface melting induced by long range screened defect-defect interactions is developed. The thickness of quasiliquid surface layer is shown to be an exponential function of temperature detuning from the melting point in accordance with the empirical dependence. Obtained results justify the modeling of observed strong nonlinear optical response of alpha-Ga films and single crystals below the melting point in terms of laser-induced nonthermal nanoscale surface melting.