Ultrafast Phase Transition in Vanadium Dioxide Driven by Hot-Electron Injection

We present a novel all-optical method of triggering the phase transition in vanadium dioxide by means of ballistic electrons injected across the interface between a mesh of Au nanoparticles coveringd VO 2 nanoislands. By performing non-degenerate pump-probe transmission spectroscopy on this hybrid plasmonic/phase-changing nanostructure, structural and electronic dynamics can be retrieved and compared.