Picosecond volume expansion drives a later-time insulator-metal transition in a nano-textured Mott Insulator

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Verma, Anita, Golež, Denis, Gorobtsov, Oleg Yu., Kaj, Kelson, Russell, Ryan, Kaaret, Jeffrey Z., Lamb, Erik, Khalsa, Guru, Nair, Hari P, Sun, Yifei, Bouck, Ryan, Schreiber, Nathaniel, Ruf, Jacob P., Ramaprasad, Varun, Kubota, Yuya, Togashi, Tadashi, Stoica, Vladimir A., Padmanabhan, Hari, Freeland, John W., Benedek, Nicole A., Shpyrko, Oleg, Harter, John W., Averitt, Richard D., Schlom, Darrell G., Shen, Kyle M., Millis, Andrew J., Singer, Andrej
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Publié: 2023
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author Verma, Anita
Golež, Denis
Gorobtsov, Oleg Yu.
Kaj, Kelson
Russell, Ryan
Kaaret, Jeffrey Z.
Lamb, Erik
Khalsa, Guru
Nair, Hari P
Sun, Yifei
Bouck, Ryan
Schreiber, Nathaniel
Ruf, Jacob P.
Ramaprasad, Varun
Kubota, Yuya
Togashi, Tadashi
Stoica, Vladimir A.
Padmanabhan, Hari
Freeland, John W.
Benedek, Nicole A.
Shpyrko, Oleg
Harter, John W.
Averitt, Richard D.
Schlom, Darrell G.
Shen, Kyle M.
Millis, Andrew J.
Singer, Andrej
author_facet Verma, Anita
Golež, Denis
Gorobtsov, Oleg Yu.
Kaj, Kelson
Russell, Ryan
Kaaret, Jeffrey Z.
Lamb, Erik
Khalsa, Guru
Nair, Hari P
Sun, Yifei
Bouck, Ryan
Schreiber, Nathaniel
Ruf, Jacob P.
Ramaprasad, Varun
Kubota, Yuya
Togashi, Tadashi
Stoica, Vladimir A.
Padmanabhan, Hari
Freeland, John W.
Benedek, Nicole A.
Shpyrko, Oleg
Harter, John W.
Averitt, Richard D.
Schlom, Darrell G.
Shen, Kyle M.
Millis, Andrew J.
Singer, Andrej
contents Technology moves towards ever faster switching between different electronic and magnetic states of matter. Manipulating properties at terahertz rates requires accessing the intrinsic timescales of electrons (femtoseconds) and associated phonons (10s of femtoseconds to few picoseconds), which is possible with short-pulse photoexcitation. Yet, in many Mott insulators, the electronic transition is accompanied by the nucleation and growth of percolating domains of the changed lattice structure, leading to empirical time scales dominated by slow coarsening dynamics. Here, we use time-resolved X-ray diffraction and reflectivity measurements to investigate the photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition in an epitaxially strained thin film Mott insulator Ca2RuO4. The dynamical transition occurs without observable domain formation and coarsening effects, allowing the study of the intrinsic electronic and lattice dynamics. Above a fluence threshold, the initial electronic excitation drives a fast lattice rearrangement, followed by a slower electronic evolution into a metastable non-equilibrium state. Microscopic calculations based on time-dependent dynamical mean-field theory and semiclassical lattice dynamics within a recently published equilibrium energy landscape picture explain the threshold-behavior and elucidate the delayed onset of the electronic phase transition in terms of kinematic constraints on recombination. Analysis of satellite scattering peaks indicates the persistence of a strain-induced nano-texture in the photoexcited film. This work highlights the importance of combined electronic and structural studies to unravel the physics of dynamic transitions and elucidates the role of strain in tuning the timescales of photoinduced processes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2304_02149
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Picosecond volume expansion drives a later-time insulator-metal transition in a nano-textured Mott Insulator
Verma, Anita
Golež, Denis
Gorobtsov, Oleg Yu.
Kaj, Kelson
Russell, Ryan
Kaaret, Jeffrey Z.
Lamb, Erik
Khalsa, Guru
Nair, Hari P
Sun, Yifei
Bouck, Ryan
Schreiber, Nathaniel
Ruf, Jacob P.
Ramaprasad, Varun
Kubota, Yuya
Togashi, Tadashi
Stoica, Vladimir A.
Padmanabhan, Hari
Freeland, John W.
Benedek, Nicole A.
Shpyrko, Oleg
Harter, John W.
Averitt, Richard D.
Schlom, Darrell G.
Shen, Kyle M.
Millis, Andrew J.
Singer, Andrej
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Technology moves towards ever faster switching between different electronic and magnetic states of matter. Manipulating properties at terahertz rates requires accessing the intrinsic timescales of electrons (femtoseconds) and associated phonons (10s of femtoseconds to few picoseconds), which is possible with short-pulse photoexcitation. Yet, in many Mott insulators, the electronic transition is accompanied by the nucleation and growth of percolating domains of the changed lattice structure, leading to empirical time scales dominated by slow coarsening dynamics. Here, we use time-resolved X-ray diffraction and reflectivity measurements to investigate the photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition in an epitaxially strained thin film Mott insulator Ca2RuO4. The dynamical transition occurs without observable domain formation and coarsening effects, allowing the study of the intrinsic electronic and lattice dynamics. Above a fluence threshold, the initial electronic excitation drives a fast lattice rearrangement, followed by a slower electronic evolution into a metastable non-equilibrium state. Microscopic calculations based on time-dependent dynamical mean-field theory and semiclassical lattice dynamics within a recently published equilibrium energy landscape picture explain the threshold-behavior and elucidate the delayed onset of the electronic phase transition in terms of kinematic constraints on recombination. Analysis of satellite scattering peaks indicates the persistence of a strain-induced nano-texture in the photoexcited film. This work highlights the importance of combined electronic and structural studies to unravel the physics of dynamic transitions and elucidates the role of strain in tuning the timescales of photoinduced processes.
title Picosecond volume expansion drives a later-time insulator-metal transition in a nano-textured Mott Insulator
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02149