Coherent control of phonons probed by time-resolved x-ray diffraction

Time-resolved x-ray diffraction with picosecond temporal resolution is used to probe the product state of a coherent control experiment in which a single acoustic mode in a bulk semiconductor is driven to large amplitude or canceled out. It is demonstrated that by shaping ultrafast acoustic pulses one can coherently control the x-ray diffraction efficiency of a crystal on the time scale of a vibrational period, with application to coherent switching of x-ray beams.