Synchronizing fast electrically driven phenomena with synchrotron x-ray probes

Time scales of long-range physical processes in solids are typically in the range of picoseconds to nanoseconds. These times are commensurate with the time resolution of structural probes based on modern synchrotron x-ray sources. Several processes of technological and scientific interest can be driven by applied electric fields, but synchronizing electrically driven phenomena with an x-ray probe poses a technical challenge. We describe the synchronization of a well-defined number of fast electrical pulses with the time structure of synchrotron x rays to probe the dynamics of thin films and nanostructures. This synchronization technique yields x-ray transient signals with 600 ps transitions in ferroelectric thin films, with a contribution of approximately 320 ps due to timing jitter in the synchronization.