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arXiv · 2404.18819

Photo-induced insulator-metal transition in paramagnetic (V$_{1-x}$Cr$_{x}$)$_2$O$_3$

Jiyu Chen·Francesco Petocchi·Viktor Christiansson·Philipp Werner
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Abstract

Pump-probe experiments with femtosecond time resolution allow to disentangle the electronic dynamics from the lattice response and thus provide valuable insights into the non-equilibrium behavior of correlated materials. In Cr-doped V$_2$O$_3$, a multi-orbital Mott-Hubbard material which has been intensively investigated for decades, time-resolved experiments reported a photo-induced insulator-metal transition leading to a transient metal state with nonthermal properties. Here, we combine non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory with realistic first principles modeling to simulate the ultrafast response of this material to a laser excitation. Our calculations reproduce the insulating initial state, with orbital occupations in agreement with experiment, and reveal an ultrafast pump-induced gap filling associated with a charge reshuffling between the $e_g^\pi$ and $a_{1g}$ orbitals. However, in contrast to the related compound VO$_2$, the electronic system thermalizes within a few tens of femtoseconds and we find no evidence for the existence of a metastable nonthermal metal. This suggests that the reported nonthermal behavior in the experiments may be associated with the mismatch between the electronic and lattice temperatures.

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Jiyu Chen, Francesco Petocchi, Viktor Christiansson, Philipp Werner. 2024-04-29. Photo-induced insulator-metal transition in paramagnetic (V$_{1-x}$Cr$_{x}$)$_2$O$_3$. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.110.045117

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