Ultrafast photoinduced structure phase transition in antimony single crystals

Fausti, Daniele; Misochko, O. V.; Loosdrecht, P.H.M. van

doi:10.1103/physrevb.80.161207

Cited by 34 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Optical measurements provide an efficient tool to unravel the changes of electronic and structural properties at the phase transition. [18][19][20][21] In magnetite, the equilibrium optical conductivity [22][23][24] shows a broad Drude peak in the metallic phase as well as its suppression at the metal-insulator transition. The optical properties at higher energies are dominated by two features peaking at about 0.6 eV and 2 eV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase separation in the nonequilibrium Verwey transition in magnetite

et al. 2016

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We present equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium studies of the Verwey transition in magnetite. In the equilibrium optical conductivity, we find a step-like change at the phase transition for photon energies below about 2 eV. The possibility of triggering a non-equilibrium transient metallic state in insulating magnetite by photo excitation was recently demonstrated by an x-ray study. Here we report a full characterization of the optical properties in the visible frequency range across the nonequilibrium phase transition. Our analysis of the spectral features is based on a detailed description of the equilibrium properties. The out-of-equilibrium optical data bear the initial electronic response associated to localized photo-excitation, the occurrence of phase separation, and the transition to a transient metallic phase for excitation density larger than a critical value. This allows us to identify the electronic nature of the transient state, to unveil the phase transition dynamics, and to study the consequences of phase separation on the reflectivity, suggesting a spectroscopic feature that may be generally linked to out-of-equilibrium phase separation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase separation in the nonequilibrium Verwey transition in magnetite

et al. 2016

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“…In recent years, femtosecond time-domain spectroscopy has emerged as an important tool for revealing the character of the dominant interactions in correlated electron materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 . In such experiments, after impulsive excitation by an ultrafast laser pulse, the temporal evolution of selected order parameters can be mapped using optical, X-ray and electron spectroscopies.…”

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confidence: 99%

Self-amplified photo-induced gap quenching in a correlated electron material

et al. 2016

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Capturing the dynamic electronic band structure of a correlated material presents a powerful capability for uncovering the complex couplings between the electronic and structural degrees of freedom. When combined with ultrafast laser excitation, new phases of matter can result, since far-from-equilibrium excited states are instantaneously populated. Here, we elucidate a general relation between ultrafast non-equilibrium electron dynamics and the size of the characteristic energy gap in a correlated electron material. We show that carrier multiplication via impact ionization can be one of the most important processes in a gapped material, and that the speed of carrier multiplication critically depends on the size of the energy gap. In the case of the charge-density wave material 1T-TiSe2, our data indicate that carrier multiplication and gap dynamics mutually amplify each other, which explains—on a microscopic level—the extremely fast response of this material to ultrafast optical excitation.

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“…This technique can be extended into the time domain to reveal transient symmetry changes 9 , but the time resolution of these experiments is typically low. To overcome this limitation, coherent phonon generation can be used.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ultrafast changes in lattice symmetry probed by coherent phonons

et al. 2012

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The electronic and structural properties of a material are strongly determined by its symmetry. Changing the symmetry via a photoinduced phase transition offers new ways to manipulate material properties on ultrafast timescales. However, to identify when and how fast these phase transitions occur, methods that can probe the symmetry change in the time domain are required. Here we show that a time-dependent change in the coherent phonon spectrum can probe a change in symmetry of the lattice potential, thus providing an all-optical probe of structural transitions. We examine the photoinduced structural phase transition in Vo 2 and show that, above the phase transition threshold, photoexcitation completely changes the lattice potential on an ultrafast timescale. The loss of the equilibrium-phase phonon modes occurs promptly, indicating a non-thermal pathway for the photoinduced phase transition, where a strong perturbation to the lattice potential changes its symmetry before ionic rearrangement has occurred.

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Ultrafast photoinduced structure phase transition in antimony single crystals

Cited by 34 publications

References 30 publications

Phase separation in the nonequilibrium Verwey transition in magnetite

Phase separation in the nonequilibrium Verwey transition in magnetite

Self-amplified photo-induced gap quenching in a correlated electron material

Ultrafast changes in lattice symmetry probed by coherent phonons

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