Direct observation of the spatial and temporal dynamics of polaron diffusion in SrTiO3

The generation, relaxation, and diffusion dynamics of optically induced lattice distortion in the relaxed excited state of SrTiO3 are studied by using polarization spectroscopy with the pump-probe technique. The relaxed excited state is generated with a rise time on the order of 100 ps. Three kinds of thermal activation processes of the localized lattice distortion are found, and these processes are considered to be caused by photogenerated carriers in trapped states, which play important roles in photoluminescence or photoconductivity. We observed the lattice distortion induced by a separated pump beam from the probe beam to investigate its itineracy. The lattice-distortion signal appears later as the separation along the [100] axis becomes larger. The temperature dependence of the mobility suggests that the observed diffusive lattice distortion is caused by photogenerated electrons accompanied by lattice distortion, or electron polarons. Thus, the spatial and temporal dynamics of polaron diffusion were observed directly in our experiment.