Ultrafast Optical Probe of Coherent Acoustic Phonons in Dirac Semimetal Cd3As2 Film Epitaxied on GaAs(111)B Substrate

Coherent longitudinal acoustic phonon (CAP) generation in epitaxial Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 films with different thicknesses was investigated by a time-resolved reflectance technique. The short-lived weak CAP oscillations can be observed only in the thicker Cd3As2 films, and their central frequency of 0.039 THz has no dependence on sample thickness, but is nearly inversely proportional to the probe wavelength. For the 20 nm thin film, the observed long-lived CAP with a central frequency of 0.049 THz is generated in the GaAs(111)B substrate underneath. A sound velocity of 3800 m/s for the Cd3As2 film and 5360 m/s for the GaAs(111)B substrate is thus deduced. In addition, the opposite CAP amplitude and lifetime dependence on temperature further confirms the electronic and thermal stress origination of CAP generated in GaAs(111)B and Cd3As2 film, respectively, based on the propagating strain pulse model. The central frequency of CAP is found to be stable with increasing pumping fluence and temperature, which makes Cd3As2 a potential material for thermoelectric device applications.