Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 8: Ultra-fast Phenomena I
HL 8.6: Talk
Monday, March 9, 2026, 16:15–16:30, POT/0006
Ultrafast X-ray diffraction shows dynamics of phase domains make V2O3 films remember photoexcitation ten thousand times longer — •Oleg Gorobtsov1,2, Yoav Kalcheim3,4, Ziming Shao1, Anatoly Shabalin3, Nelson Hua3, Daniel Weinstock1, Ryan Bouck1, Mathew Seaberg5, Diling Zhu5, Oleg Shpyrko3, Ivan Schuller3, and Andrej Singer1 — 1Cornell University, USA — 2University of Tübingen, Germany — 3University of California San Diego, USA — 4Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel — 5SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA
Metal-insulator transitions in vanadium oxides combine electronic and structural phase transformations. Memory effects present during the phase transition in thin V2O3 films make the material a candidate for neuromorphic computing, but what role does the structural phase heterogeneity play in memory? We used an X-ray free-electron laser probe to show that strain feedback on structural phase domain nucleation increases the metal-insulator relaxation time after an optically induced insulator-metal transition from nanoseconds to a hundred microseconds. The dynamic range and precision of the experiment distinguish that the memory follows a stretched exponential law, not a power law. We also provide an experimental basis for the transition incubation times during the first 10 picoseconds after the excitation.
Keywords: Vanadium oxide; X-ray laser; Ultrafast pump-probe; Neuromorphic memory; Mott transition