Energy relaxation of localized excitations in solid argon

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Abstract
The mechanisms of energy transfer from a single excited lattice particle (an energy spike) to the bulk crystal are investigated in detail. An argon matrix built up by nearly 3000 atoms serves as a model system and the molecular dynamics method is used to study the energy flow through the lattice on a femtosecond time scale. Excitation energies up to 4 eV have been used and the energy transport has been found to proceed most effectively via shock waves along 〈110〉 crystalline directions. A theoretical model is employed, which confirms the shock wave character of energy transport and shows even quantitative agreement with the numerical results.