Mott transition in Cr-doped V2O3 studied by ultrafast reflectivity: electron correlation effects on the transient response

Abstract

The ultrafast response of the prototype Mott-Hubbard system (V1-xCrx)2O3 was systematically studied with fs pump-probe reflectivity, allowing us to clearly identify the effects of the metal-insulator transition on the transient response. The isostructural nature of the phase transition in this material made it possible to follow across the phase diagram the behaviour of the detected coherent acoustic wave, whose average value and lifetime depend on the thermodynamic phase and on the correlated electron density of states. It is also shown how coherent lattice oscillations can play an important role in some changes affecting the ultrafast electronic peak relaxation at the phase transition, changes which should not be mistakenly attributed to genuine electronic effects. These results clearly show that a thorough understanding of the ultrafast response of the material over several tenths of ps is necessary to correctly interpret its sub-ps excitation and relaxation regime, and appear to be of general interest also for other strongly correlated materials.

6 pages, 3 figures. Europhysics Letters (in press)

References in corpus (5)

• Evidence for a Structurally-driven Insulator-to-metal Transition in VO2: a View from the Ultrafast Timescale
• A Microscopic View on the Mott transition in Chromium-doped V2O3
• Quasiparticle evolution and pseudogap formation in V2O3: An infrared spectroscopy study
• Inequivalent routes across the Mott transition in V2O3 explored by X-ray absorption
• Photoemission study of (V${}_{1-x}$M${}_x$)${}_2$O${}_3$ (M=Cr, Ti)

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Ultrafast optical spectroscopy of strongly correlated materials and high-temperature superconductors: a non-equilibrium approach
• Ultrafast evolution and transient phases of the prototype out-of-equilibrium Mott-Hubbard material V2O3
• Dynamic conductivity scaling in photoexcited V2O3 thin films
• Ultrafast Electron-Lattice Coupling Dynamics in VO2 and V2O3 Thin Films
• Early-stage dynamics of metallic droplets embedded in the nanotextured Mott insulating phase of V${}_2$O${}_3$
• Non-thermal light-assisted resistance collapse in a V${}_2$O${}_3$-based Mott-insulator device
• Lattice and surface effects in the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the Hubbard model
• A Microscopic Description of Displacive Coherent Phonons
• Photo-induced insulator-metal transition in paramagnetic (V${}_{1-x}$Cr${}_x$)${}_2$O${}_3$
• The perils of minimal coupling to electromagnetic field in quantum many-body systems
• Ultrafast orbital manipulation and Mott physics in multi-band correlated materials
• Dissipative cooling induced by pulse perturbations