Abstract
VO2 thin films deposited on MgO and fused silica glass substrates were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique, which shows phase transition (PT) from the monoclinic semiconductor phase to a metallic tetragonal rutile structure at temperatures over 68°C. The observed PT is reversible, showing a typical hysteresis. The PT can also be induced through optical pumping by laser excitation. In this case, it was found that the optically induced PT is ultrafast and passive, but not thermally initiated. In order to understand the PT mechanism, a study of transient holography using degenerate-four-wavemixing (DFWM) measurement was conducted. A Nd:YAG pulsed laser with pulse duration of 30 psec operating at 532 nm was employed as the coherent light source. This showed that the observed transient holography in VO2 thin film is associated with the excited state dynamical process, which essentially causes the structural change, or so-called optically induced PT. The observed extremely large polarizability is believed to relate to the large offset in the potential well minimum between the ground state and excited state. Through an unidentified intermediate state, the transient lattice distortion triggered the structural change.
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Liu, H., Vasquez, O., Santiago, V.R. et al. Semiconductor-to-metallic phase transition of VO2 by laser excitation. J. Electron. Mater. 33, 1171–1175 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-004-0119-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-004-0119-5