Does VO${}_2$ Host a Transient Monoclinic Metallic Phase?

Abstract

Ultrafast phase transitions induced by femtosecond light pulses present a new opportunity for manipulating the properties of materials. Understanding how these transient states are different from, or similar to, their thermal counterparts is key to determining how materials can exhibit properties that are not found in equilibrium. In this paper, we reexamine the case of the light-induced insulator-metal phase transition in the prototypical, strongly correlated material VO${}_2$, for which a nonthermal Mott-Hubbard transition has been claimed. Here, we show that heat, even on the ultrafast timescale, plays a key role in the phase transition. When heating is properly accounted for, we find a single phase-transition threshold corresponding to the thermodynamic structural insulator-metal phase transition, and we find no evidence of a hidden transient Mott-Hubbard nonthermal phase. The interplay between the initial thermal state and the ultrafast transition may have implications for other transient states of matter.

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• Does VO${}_2$ Host a Transient Monoclinic Metallic Phase?
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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Does VO${}_2$ Host a Transient Monoclinic Metallic Phase?
• Photoinduced ultrafast transition of the local correlated structure in chalcogenide phase-change materials
• All-optical seeding of a light-induced phase transition with correlated disorder
• Photo-induced nonequilibrium states in Mott insulators
• Mapping nanoscale charge states and phase domains with quantitative hyperspectral coherent diffractive imaging spectroscopy
• High-strain-induced local modification of the electronic properties of VO${}_2$ thin films
• Ultrafast loss of lattice coherence in the light-induced structural phase transition of V${}_2$O${}_3$
• Nature of the photo-induced metallic state in monoclinic VO${}_2$
• Non-thermal breaking of magnetic order via photo-generated spin defects
• First-order kinetics bottleneck during photoinduced ultrafast insulator-metal transition in 3D orbitally-driven Peierls insulator CuIr${}_2$S${}_4$
• Shot-to-shot acquisition ultrafast electron diffraction
• A versatile setup for symmetry-resolved ultrafast dynamics of quantum materials
• Toward nonthermal control of excited quantum materials: framework and investigations by ultrafast electron scattering and imaging
• Ultrafast dynamics of atomic correlated disordering in photoinduced VO${}_2$