Plasmonic effects on the laser-induced metal-insulator transition of vanadium dioxide

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a strongly-correlated electron material with a well-known semiconducting to metallic phase transition that can be induced thermally, optically, or electrically. When switched to the high-temperature (T > 68°C) metallic phase, the greatest contrast in the optical properties occurs at wavelengths in the near-to-mid-infrared and beyond. In the visible to near-infrared, however, upon switching for wavelengths between ~500-1000 nm, VO2 transmits more light in the metallic phase. In this paper, we report studies of the effect of near-IR irradiation (785 nm) on lithographically prepared arrays of gold nanoparticles (NPs) covered with a thin film of VO2 and find that the presence of the NPs substantially lowers the laser threshold for low-power induction of the phase transition. Hybrid Au::VO2 structures were created by coating lithographically prepared arrays of gold nanoparticles (NPs) (diameters 140 and 200 nm, array spacing 450 nm) with 60 nm thick films of VO2 by pulsed laser deposition. Due to resonant absorption of the Au particle-plasmon resonance (PPR) at 785 nm, a temperature-dependent shift in the PPR can be generated by switching the VO2 from one phase to another. We have measured the switching behavior of VO2 and Au::VO2 structures using shuttered CW laser irradiation in order to study both optical and thermal mechanisms of the phase transition. Transient absorption measurements using a shuttered 785 nm pump laser corresponding to the PPR resonance of the Au NPs and 1550 nm CW probe show that the presence of the Au NPs lowers the threshold laser power required to induce the phase transition.