Implication of the double-gating mode in hybrid photon counting detector for measurements of transient heat conduction in GaAs/AlAs superlattice structures

Abstract: Understanding and control of thermal transport in solids at nanoscale is crucial to engineer and to enhance properties of a new generation of optoelectronic, thermoelectric, and photonic devices. In this regard, semiconductor superlattice structures provide a unique platform to study phenomena associated with phonon propagations in solids such as heat conduction. Transient X-ray diffraction can directly probe atomic motions and therefore is among the rare techniques sensitive to phonon dynamics in a condensed matter. Here, we study optically induced transient heat conduction in GaAs/AlAs superlattice structures using EIGER2 detector. Benchmark experiments have been performed at the Austrian SAXS beamline at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste that operated in the hybrid filling mode. We demonstrate that drifts of experimental conditions, such as synchrotron beam fluctuations, become less essential when utilizing EIGER2 double gating mode that results in a faster acquisition of high quality data and facilitates data analysis and data interpretation.