Coherent control of the orbital occupation driving the insulator-to-metal Mott transition in V2O3
Year: 2023
Authors: Franceschini P., Policht VR., Milloch A., Ronchi A., Mor S., Mellaerts S., Hsu WF., Pagliara S., Ferrini G., Banfi F., Fabrizio M., Menghini M., Locquet JP., Dal Conte S., Cerullo G., Giannetti C.
Autors Affiliation: Univ Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Dept Math & Phys, I-25133 Brescia, Italy; Univ Cattolica Sacro Cuore, ILAMP Interdisciplinary Labs Adv Mat Phys, IT-25133 Brescia, Italy; Katholieke Univ Leuven, Dept Phys & Astron, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium; Politecn Milan, Dept Phys, I-20133 Milan, Italy; Univ Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Univ Lyon, Inst Lumiere Matiere, FemtoNanoOpt Grp,CNRS, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France; Scuola Int Super Studi Avanzati SISSA, IT-34136 Trieste, Italy; IMDEA Nanociencia, E-28049 Madrid, Spain; CNR, Natl Inst Opt, Via Branze 45, IT-25123 Brescia, Italy; Pirelli Tyre SpA, Viale Piero & Alberto Pirelli 25, IT-20126 Milan, Italy.
Abstract: Managing light-matter interactions on timescales faster than the loss of electronic coherence is key for achieving full quantum control of the final products in solid-solid transformations. In this Letter, we demon-strate coherent optical control of the orbital occupation that determines the insulator-to-metal transition in the prototypical Mott insulator V2O3. Selective excitation of a specific interband transition with two phase-locked light pulses manipulates the occupation of the correlated bands in a way that depends on the coherent evolution of the photoinduced superposition of states. A comparison between experimental results and numerical solutions of the optical Bloch equations provides an electronic coherence time on the order of 5 fs. Temperature-dependent experiments suggest that the electronic coherence time is enhanced in the vicinity of the insulator-to-metal transition critical temperature, thus highlighting the role of fluctuations in determining the electronic coherence. These results open different routes to selectively switch the functionalities of quantum materials and coherently control solid-solid electronic transformations.
Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW B
Volume: 107 (16) Pages from: L161110-1 to: L161110-6
More Information: C.G., P.F., A.R., A.M., and S.M. acknowledge financial support from MIUR through the PRIN 2015 (Prot. 2015C5SEJJ001) and PRIN 2017 (Prot. 20172H2SC4_005) programs. C.G., S.P., and G.F. acknowledge support from Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore through D.1, D.2.2, and D.3.1 grants. S.M. acknowledges partial financial support through the grant Finanziamenti ponte per bandi esterni from Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. M.M. acknowledges support from Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R & D (MINCINN, Grant No. SEV-2016-0686). M.F. has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Agreement No. 692670 FIRSTORM. V.P., S.D.C., and G.C. acknowledge support by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme under Grant Agreement No. 881603 Graphene Core 3. S.D.C. acknowledges financial support from MIUR through the PRIN 2017 Programme (Prot. 20172H2SC4)KeyWords: Electron Dynamics; Femtosecond; Femtochemistry; Photocurrent; EnergyDOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.107.L161110ImpactFactor: 3.200Citations: 3data from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) are update at: 2024-09-15References taken from IsiWeb of Knowledge: (subscribers only)
