  The emergent properties of quantum materials, such as symmetry-broken phases
and associated spectral gaps, can be effectively manipulated by ultrashort
photon pulses. Impulsive optical excitation generally results in a complex
non-equilibrium electron and lattice dynamics that involves multiple processes
on distinct timescales, and a common conception is that for times shorter than
about 100 fs the gap in the electronic spectrum is not seriously affected by
lattice vibrations. Here, we directly monitor the photo-induced collapse of the
spectral gap in a canonical charge-density-wave material, blue bronze
Rb0.3MoO3. We find that ultra-fast (about 60 fs) vibrational disordering due to
efficient hot-electron energy dissipation quenches the gap significantly faster
than the typical structural bottleneck time corresponding to one half-cycle
oscillation (about 315 fs) of the coherent charge-density-wave amplitude mode.
This result not only demonstrates the importance of incoherent lattice motion
in the photo-induced quenching of electronic order, but also resolves the
perennial debate about the nature of the spectral gap in a coupled
electron-lattice system.
