Large non-thermal contribution to picosecond strain pulse generation using the photo-induced phase transition in VO2

Mogunov, Iaroslav A.; Lysenko, Sergiy; Fedianin, Anatolii E.; Fern�ndez, F�lix E.; R�a, Armando; Kent, Anthony J.; Akimov, Andrey V.; Kalashnikova, Alexandra M.

Abstract

Picosecond strain pulses are a versatile tool for investigation of mechanical properties of meso-and nano-scale objects with high temporal and spatial resolutions. Generation of such pulses is traditionally realized via ultrafast laser excitation of a light-to-strain transducer involving thermoelastic, deformation potential, or inverse piezoelectric effects. These approaches unavoidably lead to heat dissipation and a temperature rise, which can modify delicate specimens, like biological tissues, and ultimately destroy the transducer itself limiting the amplitude of generated picosecond strain. Here we propose a novel non-thermal mechanism for generating picosecond strain pulses via ultrafast photo-induced first-order phase transitions (PIPTs). We perform experiments on vanadium dioxide VO2 films, which exhibit a first-order PIPT accompanied by a lattice change. We demonstrate that during femtosecond optical excitation of VO2 the PIPT alone contributes to ultrafast expansion of this material as large as 0.45%, which is not accompanied by heat dissipation, and, for excitation density of 8 mJ cm-2 , exceeds the contribution from thermoelastic effect by the factor of five. 2

Citation

Mogunov, I. A., Lysenko, S., Fedianin, A. E., Fernández, F. E., Rúa, A., Kent, A. J., …Kalashnikova, A. M. (2020). Large non-thermal contribution to picosecond strain pulse generation using the photo-induced phase transition in VO2. Nature Communications, 11(1), Article 1690. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15372-z

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 5, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 3, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 9, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 8, 2020
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 1690
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15372-z
• Keywords: General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Physics and Astronomy; General Chemistry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4114863
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15372-z