Photoinduced Melting of V₄O₇ Correlated State

The compound V₄O₇ is one of the Magnéli phase (V_nO_{2n - 1}, n = 3, 4, …, 9) correlated vanadium oxides with distinct intriguing electronic and structural properties. The possibility to manipulate the phase state of V₄O₇ on an ultrafast time scale by light makes this material promising for potential applications in photonics, optoelectronics, quantum, and neuromorphic circuit design. In this work, the ultrafast spectroscopy of V₄O₇ reveals the second-order nature of the photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition, emphasizing electronic and lattice contributions. The findings reveal the influence of the laser excitation level and temperature on these dynamics, providing a comprehensive understanding of V₄O₇ structural changes and response to external stimuli. The phenomenological model based on the Landau–Ginzburg formalism provides a robust framework for explaining the photoinduced transition dynamics, showing a detailed picture of the light interaction with the electronic and lattice subsystems. This integrated approach significantly enhances the understanding of V₄O₇ complex behavior upon photoexcitation, opening new possibilities for developing new optoelectronic devices and noninvasive optical control of the phase transition pathways in vanadates.. Authors: Bartenev, Alexander [Univ. of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (Puerto Rico)] (ORCID:0009000585314619); Verbel, Camilo [Univ. of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (Puerto Rico)] (ORCID:0000000223154841); Wu, Qin [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)] (ORCID:0000000163506672); Camino, Fernando [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)] (ORCID:0000000305752976); Rúa, Armando [Univ. of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (Puerto Rico)] (ORCID:000000020962371X). DOE Contract: SC0012704. Subjects: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; light matter interaction; light-induced; metal-insulator transition; ultrafast phenomena; vanadium Magnéli oxide