The Local and Electronic Structure Study of LuGdVO (0 ≤ ≤ 1) Solid Solution Nanocrystals.

Rare-earth-doped mixed crystals have demonstrated tunable optical properties, and it is of great importance to study the structural characteristics of the mixed-crystal hosts. Herein, LuGdVO (0 ≤ ≤ 1) solid solution nanocrystals were synthesized by a modified sol-gel method, with a pure crystalline phase and element composition. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinement results showed that LuGdVO nanocrystals are continuous solid solutions with a tetragonal zircon phase (space group 4/) and the lattice parameters strictly follow Vegard's law.

Inducing thermodynamically blocked atomic ordering via strongly driven nonequilibrium kinetics.

Ultrafast light-matter interactions enable inducing exotic material phases by promoting access to kinetic processes blocked in equilibrium. Despite potential opportunities, actively using nonequilibrium kinetics for material discovery is limited by the poor understanding on intermediate states of driven systems. Here, using single-pulse time-resolved imaging with x-ray free-electron lasers, we found intermediate states of photoexcited bismuth nanoparticles that showed kinetically reversed surface ordering during ultrafast melting.