2009, Huber, Rupert, Kübler, Carl, Ehrke, Henri, Lopez, Ricardo, Halabica, Andrej, Haglund, Richard F., Leitenstorfer, Alfred

The multi-THz conductivity of VO₂ recorded during a photoinduced insulator-metal transition directly reveals the femtosecond dynamics of V-V stretching modes and electronic correlations. We suggest a novel qualitative model for the nonthermal phase transition.

2009, Leitenstorfer, Alfred, Kübler, Carl, Lopez, Rene, Halabica, Andrej, Haglund, Richard F., Huber, Rupert

The multi-THz conductivity of VO₂ recorded during a photoinduced insulator-metal transition directly reveals the femtosecond dynamics of V-V stretching modes and electronic correlations. The strongly correlated character of the electronic system leads to a transient behaviour of the conductivity that cannot be understood in a Born-Oppenheimer picture. Based on our measurements with a time resolution of 12 fs and recent theoretical simulations for the electronic structure in steady state, we suggest a novel qualitative model for the non-thermal phase transition. The extremely high speed for the photoinduced phase transition is elegantly explained via a directed wave packet motion in the electronically excited state of the dimer that transfers the crystal structure of the insulator into the configuration of the metallic phase.

2007, Kübler, Carl, Ehrke, Henri, Lopez, Rene, Halabica, Andrej, Haglund, Richard F., Leitenstorfer, Alfred

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.