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Propagation of insulator-to-metal transition driven by photoinduced strain waves in a Mott material

Amano, Tatsuya ; Babich, Danylo ; Mandal, Ritwika ; Guzman-Brambila, Julio ; Volte, Alix LU ; Trzop, Elzbieta ; Servol, Marina ; Pastor, Ernest ; Alashoor, Maryam and Larsson, Jörgen LU orcid , et al. (2024) In Nature Physics 20(11).
Abstract
Ultrafast photoexcitation can generate internal compressive stress in Mott insulators that lead to strain waves from free surfaces. These photoinduced elastic waves can trigger phase transitions in materials. However, a comprehensive physical picture of the phase transformation dynamics that includes acoustic-scale propagation has not yet been developed. Here we demonstrate that such a strain-wave mechanism drives the ultrafast insulator-to-metal phase transition in granular thin films of the Mott material V2O3. Our time-resolved optical reflectivity and X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that an inverse ferroelastic shear occurs before the insulator-to-metal transition, which propagates in the wake of a compressive strain wave. These... (More)
Ultrafast photoexcitation can generate internal compressive stress in Mott insulators that lead to strain waves from free surfaces. These photoinduced elastic waves can trigger phase transitions in materials. However, a comprehensive physical picture of the phase transformation dynamics that includes acoustic-scale propagation has not yet been developed. Here we demonstrate that such a strain-wave mechanism drives the ultrafast insulator-to-metal phase transition in granular thin films of the Mott material V2O3. Our time-resolved optical reflectivity and X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that an inverse ferroelastic shear occurs before the insulator-to-metal transition, which propagates in the wake of a compressive strain wave. These dynamics are governed by the domain size and film thickness, respectively. Our results clarify the morphological conditions for the ultrafast phase transition that is favoured in granular thin films and hindered in single crystals. The resulting physical picture sheds light on the ultrafast phase transitions in quantum materials and future devices based on Mott insulators. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Physics
volume
20
issue
11
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85204175280
ISSN
1745-2473
DOI
10.1038/s41567-024-02628-4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1cfb83e4-5903-4668-9a97-f279918c8f0c
date added to LUP
2024-11-06 22:08:28
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:28:22
@article{1cfb83e4-5903-4668-9a97-f279918c8f0c,
  abstract     = {{Ultrafast photoexcitation can generate internal compressive stress in Mott insulators that lead to strain waves from free surfaces. These photoinduced elastic waves can trigger phase transitions in materials. However, a comprehensive physical picture of the phase transformation dynamics that includes acoustic-scale propagation has not yet been developed. Here we demonstrate that such a strain-wave mechanism drives the ultrafast insulator-to-metal phase transition in granular thin films of the Mott material V2O3. Our time-resolved optical reflectivity and X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that an inverse ferroelastic shear occurs before the insulator-to-metal transition, which propagates in the wake of a compressive strain wave. These dynamics are governed by the domain size and film thickness, respectively. Our results clarify the morphological conditions for the ultrafast phase transition that is favoured in granular thin films and hindered in single crystals. The resulting physical picture sheds light on the ultrafast phase transitions in quantum materials and future devices based on Mott insulators.}},
  author       = {{Amano, Tatsuya and Babich, Danylo and Mandal, Ritwika and Guzman-Brambila, Julio and Volte, Alix and Trzop, Elzbieta and Servol, Marina and Pastor, Ernest and Alashoor, Maryam and Larsson, Jörgen and Jurgilaitis, Andrius and Pham, Van Thai and Kroon, David and Ekström, John Carl and Ahn, Byungnam and Mariette, Céline and Levantino, Matteo and Kozhaev, Mikhail and Tranchant, Julien and Corraze, Benoit and Cario, Laurent and Dolatabadi, Mohammad and Phuoc, Vinh Ta and Sopracase, Rodolphe and Guillon, Mathieu and Itoh, Hirotake and Kawakami, Yohei and Nakamura, Yuto and Kishida, Hideo and Cailleau, Hervé and Lorenc, Maciej and Iwai, Shinichiro and Janod, Etienne}},
  issn         = {{1745-2473}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Physics}},
  title        = {{Propagation of insulator-to-metal transition driven by photoinduced strain waves in a Mott material}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02628-4}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41567-024-02628-4}},
  volume       = {{20}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}