Ultrafast electronic disordering during femtosecond laser melting of GaAs

We have observed an ultrarapid electronic phase transformation to a centrosymmetric electronic state during laser excitation of GaAs with intense femtosecond pulses. Reflection second-harmonic intensity from the upper 90 atomic layers vanishes within 100 fs; reflectivity rises within 0.5 ps to a steady value characteristic of a metallic molten phase, long before phonon emission can heat the lattice to the melting temperature.