Overcoming the thermal regime for the electric-field driven Mott transition in vanadium sesquioxide.
Nat Commun 2019;
10:1159. [PMID:
30858368 PMCID:
PMC6411733 DOI:
10.1038/s41467-019-09137-6]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2018] [Accepted: 02/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The complex interplay among electronic, magnetic and lattice degrees of freedom in Mott-Hubbard materials leads to different types of insulator-to-metal transitions (IMT) which can be triggered by temperature, pressure, light irradiation and electric field. However, several questions remain open concerning the quantum or thermal nature of electric field-driven transition process. Here, using intense terahertz pulses, we reveal the emergence of an instantaneous purely-electronic IMT in the Mott-Hubbard vanadium sequioxide (V2O3) prototype material. While fast electronics allow thermal-driven transition involving Joule heating, which takes place after tens of picoseconds, terahertz electric field is able to induce a sub-picosecond electronic switching. We provide a comprehensive study of the THz induced Mott transition, showing a crossover from a fast quantum dynamics to a slower thermal dissipative evolution for increasing temperature. Strong-field terahertz-driven electronic transition paves the way to ultrafast electronic switches and high-harmonic generation in correlated systems.
Thermal effects limit the speed of the electrically driven insulator-metal transition in V2O3 to tens of picoseconds. Here the authors show that under an intense THz-electric-field excitation the thermal regime can be overcome, achieving a purely electronic transition on ultrafast timescales.
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