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Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 226401 (2007) [4 pages]

Enhanced Photosusceptibility near Tc for the Light-Induced Insulator-to-Metal Phase Transition in Vanadium Dioxide

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D. J. Hilton1,*, R. P. Prasankumar1, S. Fourmaux2, A. Cavalleri3, D. Brassard2, M. A. El Khakani2, J. C. Kieffer2, A. J. Taylor1, and R. D. Averitt1,†
1Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, MS K771, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
2Université du Québec, INRS-Énergie et Matériaux et Télécommunications, Varennes, Québec, Canada J3X 1S2
3Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

See Also: Erratum

Received 6 June 2006; published 30 November 2007

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.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.226401
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.226401
PACS:
71.30.+h, 72.80.Ga, 78.47.+p

*Present address: Department of Physics, University of Alabama–Birmingham, 1530 3rd Ave. S., Campbell Hall 310, Birmingham, AL 35294-1170, USA.

†Present address: Department of Physics, Boston University, 590 Commomwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215, USA.

raveritt@physics.bu.edu

See Also

Erratum: D. J. Hilton, R. P. Prasankumar, S. Fourmaux, A. Cavalleri, D. Brassard, M. A. Khakani, J. C. Kieffer, A. J. Taylor, and R. D. Averitt, Erratum: Enhanced Photosusceptibility near Tc for the Light-Induced Insulator-to-Metal Phase Transition in Vanadium Dioxide [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 226401 (2007)], Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 019906 (2008).

 
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