Quantum Materials Unveiled: A New X-Ray Imaging Technique

Using light to create transient phases in quantum materials is a novel method for engineering new properties like superconductivity or nanoscale topological defects, however, visualizing the growth of these phases in solids is challenging due to the wide range of spatial and time scales involved in the process.

Scientists have explained light-induced phase transitions in quantum materials through nanoscale dynamics, but producing real space images has proved difficult, leading to no one having seen them yet.

In the new study published in Nature PhysicsAs the name implies, Nature Physics is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal covering physics and is published by Nature Research. It was first published in October 2005 and its monthly coverage includes articles, letters, reviews, research highlights, news and views, commentaries, book reviews, and correspondence.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>Nature Physics, ICFO researchers Allan S. Johnson and Daniel Pérez-Salinas, led by former ICFO Prof. Simon Wall, in collaboration with colleagues from Aarhus UniversityEstablished in Aarhus, Denmark in 1928, Aarhus University (AU) is the largest and second oldest research university in Denmark. It comprises four faculties in Arts, Science and Technology, Health, and Business and Social Sciences and has a total of 27 departments. (Danish: Aarhus Universitet.)” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>Aarhus University, Sogang University, Vanderbilt University, the Max Born Institute, the Diamond Light SourceDiamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron. It works like a giant microscope, harnessing the power of electrons to produce bright light that scientists can use to study anything from fossils to jet engines to viruses and vaccines. The machine accelerates electrons to near light speeds so that they give off light 10 billion times brighter than the sun.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>Diamond Light Source, ALBA Synchrotron, Utrecht University, and the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, have pioneered a new imaging method that allows the capture of the light-induced phase transition in vanadium oxide (VO2) with high spatial and temporal resolution.

The new technique implemented by the researchers is based on coherent X-ray hyperspectral imaging at a free electron laser, which has allowed them to visualize and better understand, at the nanoscale, the insulator-to-metal phase transition in this very well-known quantum material.

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Nanoscale X-Ray spectroscopy of transient phases An ultrafast video of the photoinduced phase transition in VO2 at the nanoscale, in which insulating domains several hundred nanometers in size are switched to the metallic phase when a strong laser pulse excites them at t=0. Credit: ICFO / Allan Johnson

The crystal VO2 has been widely used in studying light-induced phase transitions. It was the first material to have its solid-solid transition tracked by time-resolved X-ray diffraction and its electronic nature was studied by using for the first time ultrafast X-ray absorption techniques. At room temperature, VO2 is in the insulating phase. However, if light is applied to the material, it is possible to break the dimers of the vanadium ion pairs and drive the transition from an insulating to a metallic phase.

In their experiment, the authors of the study prepared thin samples of VO₂ with a gold mask to define the field of view. Then, the samples were taken to the X-ray Free Electron Laser facility at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, where an optical laser pulse induced the transient phase, before being probed by an ultrafast X-ray laser pulse. A camera captured the scattered X-rays, and the coherent scattering patterns were converted into images by using two different approaches: Fourier Transform Holography (FTH) and Coherent Diffractive Imaging (CDI). Images were taken at a range of time delays and X-ray wavelengths to build up a movie of the process with 150 femtosecond time resolution and 50 nm spatial resolution, but also with full hyperspectral information.

The surprising role of the pressure

The new methodology allowed the researchers to better understand the dynamics of the phase transition in VO₂. They found that pressure plays a much larger role in light-induced phase transitions than previously expected or assumed.

“We saw that the transient phases aren’t nearly as exotic as people had believed! Instead of a truly non-equilibrium phase, what we saw was that we had been misled by the fact that the ultrafast transition intrinsically leads to giant internal pressures in the sample millions of times higher than atmospheric. This pressure changes the material properties and takes time to relax, making it seem like there was a transient phase” says Allan Johnson, a postdoctoral researcher at ICFO. “Using our imaging method, we saw that, at least in this case, there was no link between the picosecond dynamics that we did see and any nanoscale changes or exotics phases. So, it looks like some of those conclusions will have to be revisited”.

To identify the role played by the pressure in the process, it was crucial to use the hyperspectral image. “By combining imaging and spectroscopy into one great image, we are able to retrieve much more information that permits us to actually see detailed features and decipher exactly where they come from,” continues Johnson. “This was essential to look at each part of our crystal and determine whether it was a normal or an exotic out-of-equilibrium phase-and with this information we were able to determine that during the phase transitions all the regions of our crystal were the same, except for the pressure”.

Challenging research

One of the main challenges the researchers faced during the experiment was to ensure that the crystal sample of VO₂ returned to its original starting phase each time and after being illuminated by the laser. To guarantee that this would occur, they conducted preliminary experiments at synchrotrons where they took several crystal samples and repeatedly shone the laser on them to test their capacity to recover back to their original state.

The second challenge resided in having access to an X-Ray free electron laser, large research facilities where the time windows to conduct the experiments are very competitive and in demand because there are only a few in the world. “We had to spend two weeks in quarantine in South Korea due to the COVID-19First identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China, COVID-19, or Coronavirus disease 2019, (which was originally called "2019 novel coronavirus" or 2019-nCoV) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It has spread globally, resulting in the 2019–22 coronavirus pandemic.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>COVID-19 restrictions before we got our one shot of just five days to make the experiment work, so that was an intense time” Johnson recalls.

Although the researchers describe the present work as fundamental research, the potential applications of this technique could be diverse, since they could “look at polarons moving inside catalytic materials, try imaging superconductivity itself, or even help us understand novel nanotechnologies by viewing and imaging inside nanoscale devices” concludes Johnson.

Reference: “Ultrafast X-ray imaging of the light-induced phase transition in VO2” by Allan S. Johnson, Daniel Perez-Salinas, Khalid M. Siddiqui, Sungwon Kim, Sungwook Choi, Klara Volckaert, Paulina E. Majchrzak, Søren Ulstrup, Naman Agarwal, Kent Hallman, Richard F. Haglund Jr, Christian M. Günther, Bastian Pfau, Stefan Eisebitt, Dirk Backes, Francesco Maccherozzi, Ann Fitzpatrick, Sarnjeet S. Dhesi, Pierluigi Gargiani, Manuel Valvidares, Nongnuch Artrith, Frank de Groot, Hyeongi Choi, Dogeun Jang, Abhishek Katoch, Soonnam Kwon, Sang Han Park, Hyunjung Kim, and Simon E. Wall, 22 December 2022, Nature Physics.
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01848-w