Deciphering the dynamics of the light-induced phase transition in VO₂

2025/09/22 by Sudip Mandal, Mandal, S., Pramod Kumar +16
Materials Science · #Transition Metal Oxide Nanomaterials

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.17611

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.

Citations

• Ultrafast Hot-Carrier Dynamics in Ultrathin Monocrystalline Gold
• A review of Raman spectroscopy of vanadium oxides
• Inhomogeneity in the ultrafast insulator-to-metal transition dynamics in VO₂
• Evidence for a structurally-driven insulator-to-metal transition inVO2: A view from the ultrafast timescale

Related

• Inhomogeneity in the ultrafast insulator-to-metal transition dynamics in VO₂
• Hole-lattice Coupling and Photo-induced Insulator-Metal Transition in VO₂
• A photoinduced metallic phase of monoclinic vanadium dioxide
• Photoresponse of a strongly correlated material determined by scanning photocurrent microscopy
• Infrared spectroscopy and nano-imaging of the insulator-to-metal transition in vanadium dioxide