Ultrafast Charge Carrier Dynamics in Vanadium Dioxide, VO₂: Nonequilibrium Contributions to the Photoinduced Phase Transitions.

ABSTRACT: Vanadium oxide (VO₂) is an exotic phase-change material with diverse applications ranging from thermochromic smart windows to thermal sensors, neuromorphic computing, and tunable metasurfaces. Nonetheless, the mechanism responsible for its metal-insulator phase transition remains a subject of vigorous debate. Here, we investigate the ultrafast dynamics of the photoinduced phase transition in VO₂ under low perturbation conditions. By experimentally examining carrier relaxation dynamics at energy levels near the VO₂ band gap (0.6-0.92 eV), we note that numerous optical features do not correspond to the first-order phase transition. Previous studies indeed induced such a phase transition, but they relied on fluences at least an order of magnitude higher, leadi

SUBMITTER: Tomko JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11808786 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature