Deciphering the dynamics of the light-induced phase transition in VO$_2$

S. Mandal; P. Kumar; H. Y. Kim; Z. Pi; J. Xu; D. Chen; D. Kazenwadel; P. Baum; S. Meng; E. Goulielmakis

Deciphering the dynamics of the light-induced phase transition in VO$_2$

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2025-09-23 v1 Optics

Authors: S. Mandal , P. Kumar , H. Y. Kim , Z. Pi , J. Xu , D. Chen , D. Kazenwadel , P. Baum , S. Meng , E. Goulielmakis

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Abstract

Vanadium dioxide (VO $_2$ ) is central in the study of ultrafast photoinduced insulator-to-metal phase transitions in strongly correlated materials, and a primary candidate for next-generation light-driven devices. However, the physical mechanism underlying its phase transition remains unresolved. Here, we use single-cycle light transients to perform phase-resolved ultrafast spectroscopy on VO $_2$ crystals. Our experiments reveal two processes: a structural transformation from the insulating monoclinic M1-VO $_2$ phase to the excited metallic rutile R*-VO $_2$ phase, followed by electron thermalization and relaxation dynamics intrinsic to the newly formed excited metallic phase.

Keywords

vanadium dioxide light-induced phase transition ultrafast spectroscopy insulator-metal transition structural transformation electron thermalization

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.17611,
  title  = {Deciphering the dynamics of the light-induced phase transition in VO$_2$},
  author = {S. Mandal and P. Kumar and H. Y. Kim and Z. Pi and J. Xu and D. Chen and D. Kazenwadel and P. Baum and S. Meng and E. Goulielmakis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.17611},
  year   = {2025}
}

Deciphering the dynamics of the light-induced phase transition in VO$_2$

Abstract

Keywords

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