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arxiv: 0707.1054 · v2 · submitted 2007-07-06 · ❄️ cond-mat.str-el · cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Softening of the insulating phase near Tc for the photo-induced insulator-to-metal phase transition in vanadium dioxide

D. J. Hilton (1) , R. P. Prasankumar (1) , S. Fourmaux (2) , A. Cavalleri (3) , D. Brassard (2) , M. A. El Khakani (2) , J. C. Kieffer (2) , A. J. Taylor (1)
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R. D. Averitt (1) ((1) Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM (2) Universit\'e du Qu\'ebec INRS-\'Energie et Mat\'eriaux et T\'el\'ecommunications Varennes Qu\'ebec Canada (3) Department of Physics University of Oxford Oxford United Kingdom)
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classification ❄️ cond-mat.str-el cond-mat.mtrl-sci
keywords phasetransitiondioxideinsulatinginsulator-to-metalmetallicobservedsoftening
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We use optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy to investigate the near-threshold behavior of the photoinduced insulator-to-metal (IM) transition in vanadium dioxide thin films. Upon approaching Tc a reduction in the fluence required to drive the IM transition is observed, consistent with a softening of the insulating state due to an increasing metallic volume fraction (below the percolation limit). This phase coexistence facilitates the growth of a homogeneous metallic conducting phase following superheating via photoexcitation. A simple dynamic model using Bruggeman effective medium theory describes the observed initial condition sensitivity.

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