Deciphering the dynamics of the light-induced phase transition in VO2
Abstract
Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is central in the study of ultrafast photoinduced insulator-to-metal phase transitions in strongly correlated materials, and a primary candidate for next-generation light-driven devices. However, the physical mechanism underlying its phase transition remains unresolved. Here, we use single-cycle light transients to perform phase-resolved ultrafast spectroscopy on VO2 crystals. Our experiments reveal two processes: a structural transformation from the insulating monoclinic M1-VO2 phase to the excited metallic rutile R*-VO2 phase, followed by electron thermalization and relaxation dynamics intrinsic to the newly formed excited metallic phase.
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