X-ray-induced persistent photoconductivity in vanadium dioxide

Journal Article · Wed Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.165109· OSTI ID:1248230

Dietze, S. H.; Marsh, M. J.; Wang, Siming; Ramírez, J. -G.; Cai, Z. -H.; Mohanty, J. R.; Schuller, Ivan K.; Shpyrko, O. G.

The resistivity of vanadium dioxide (VO2) decreased by over one order of magnitude upon localized illumination with x rays at room temperature. Despite this reduction, the structure remained in the monoclinic phase and had no signature of the high-temperature tetragonal phase that is usually associated with the lower resistance. Once illumination ceased, relaxation to the insulating state took tens of hours near room temperature. However, a full recovery of the insulating state was achieved within minutes by thermal cycling. We show that this behavior is consistent with random local-potential fluctuations and random distribution of discrete recombination sites used to model residual photoconductivity.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1248230
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 90, Issue 16; ISSN 1098-0121
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English