Photoinduced phase transitions in narrow-gap Mott insulators: the case of VO${}_2$

Abstract

We study the nonequilibrium dynamics of photoexcited electrons in the narrow-gap Mott insulator VO${}_2$. The initial stages of relaxation are treated using a quantum Boltzmann equation methodology, which reveals a rapid ($\sim$ femtosecond time scale) relaxation to a pseudothermal state characterized by a few parameters that vary slowly in time. The long-time limit is then studied by a Hartree-Fock methodology, which reveals the possibility of nonequilibrium excitation to a new metastable $M_1$ metal phase that is qualitatively consistent with a recent experiment. The general physical picture of photoexcitation driving a correlated electron system to a new state that is not accessible in equilibrium may be applicable in similar materials.

11 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Electrodynamics of Correlated Electron Materials
• Electrodynamics of the vanadium oxides VO2 and V2O3
• The Quantum Boltzmann Equation in Semiconductor Physics

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• Picosecond volume expansion drives a later-time insulator-metal transition in a nano-textured Mott Insulator
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• Incorporating static intersite correlation effects in vanadium dioxide through DFT$+V$
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