Abstract
In femtosecond pump-probe measurements, the appearance of coherent phonon oscillations at 4.5 and 6.0 THz indicating the rutile metal phase of does not occur simultaneously with the first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT) near . The monoclinic and correlated metal (MCM) phase between the MIT and the structural phase transition (SPT) is generated by a photoassisted hole excitation, which is evidence of the Mott transition. The SPT between the MCM phase and the rutile metal phase occurs due to subsequent Joule heating. The MCM phase can be regarded as an intermediate nonequilibrium state.
- Received 23 July 2006
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.266401
©2006 American Physical Society