corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 99 » Issue 11
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 116401 (2007) [4 pages]

Coherent Structural Dynamics and Electronic Correlations during an Ultrafast Insulator-to-Metal Phase Transition in VO2

Download: PDF (518 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

C. Kübler1, H. Ehrke1, R. Huber1,*, R. Lopez2,3, A. Halabica2, R. F. Haglund, Jr.2, and A. Leitenstorfer1
1Department of Physics and Center for Applied Photonics, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, USA
3Department of Physics and Astronomy and Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanoscience and Technology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA

Received 14 November 2006; published 13 September 2007

We directly trace the multi-THz conductivity of VO2 during an insulator-metal transition triggered by a 12-fs light pulse. The femtosecond dynamics of lattice and electronic degrees of freedom are spectrally discriminated. A coherent wave packet motion of V-V dimers at 6 THz modulates the lattice polarizability for approximately 1 ps. In contrast, the electronic conductivity settles to a constant value already after one V-V oscillation cycle. Based on our findings, we propose a qualitative model for the nonthermal phase transition.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.116401
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.116401
PACS:
71.30.+h, 72.80.Ga, 78.47.+p

*Corresponding author.

rupert.huber@uni-konstanz.de

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >