Transient dynamics of the phase transition in VO₂ revealed by mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction

Vanadium dioxide (VO₂) exhibits an insulator-to-metal transition accompanied by a structural transition near room temperature. This transition can be triggered by an ultrafast laser pulse. Exotic transient states, such as a metallic state without structural transition, were also proposed. These unique characteristics let VO₂ have great potential in thermal switchable devices and photonic applications. Although great efforts have been made, the atomic pathway during the photoinduced phase transition is still not clear. Here, we synthesize freestanding quasi-single-crystal VO₂ films and examine their photoinduced structural phase transition with mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction. Leveraging the high signal-to-noise ratio and high temporal resolution, we observe that the disappearance of vanadium dimers and zigzag chains does not coincide with the transformation of crystal symmetry. After photoexcitation, the initial structure is strongly modified within 200 femtoseconds, resulting in a transient monoclinic structure without vanadium dimers and zigzag chains. Then, it continues to evolve to the final tetragonal structure in approximately 5 picoseconds. In addition, only one laser fluence threshold instead of two thresholds suggested in polycrystalline samples is observed in our quasi-single-crystal samples. Our findings provide essential information for a comprehensive understanding of the photoinduced ultrafast phase transition in VO₂.