Surface-Sensitive Mapping of Anisotropic Phonon Cascades in T$_{d}$-WTe$_{2}$

Abstract

Understanding how energy flows from photoexcited carriers into the lattice is essential for describing nonequilibrium phenomena in low-symmetry quantum materials. Here, we use ultrafast low-energy electron diffraction and diffuse scattering to probe momentum-resolved phonon dynamics at the surface of T$_{d}$-WTe$_{2}$, a strongly anisotropic semimetal. Following optical excitation, the Debye-Waller suppression of Bragg peaks reveals a biexponential increase of the mean-squared atomic displacement, indicating sequential lattice relaxation. Analysis of the diffuse background reveals a preferential intensity build-up parallel to the tungsten-chain axis in the material, attributed to anisotropic electron-phonon coupling during electronic cooling. Diffuse intensity subsequently redistributes across the surface Brillouin zone and finally accumulates near the zone centre, consistent with anharmonic phonon-phonon scattering and the gradual population of low-frequency acoustic modes on a 30--100 ps timescale. The results reveal a hierarchical relaxation pathway in which energy is first deposited into selected finite-momentum phonons before spreading through the broader lattice bath. Our work highlights the importance of momentum-resolved diffuse scattering for disentangling electron-phonon and phonon-phonon relaxation in anisotropic topological semimetals.