Out-of-equilibrium phase separation in Ti3O5 single crystals

The proposal aims at understanding the phase separation dynamics in a single crystal of Ti3O5 during ultra-fast semiconductor (β) to metal (λ) phase transition. Previous time-resolved X-ray diffraction(XRD) studies on this system were performed on polycrystalline samples. They gave indication of phase separation within a single crystallite, with however no direct evidence. Time-resolved XRD on a single object will give a precise picture and understanding of this domain dynamics, which plays a dominant role in the stability of the photo-induced phase. This result will help to optimise the design of Ti3O5 compounds and other emerging nanomaterials with similar properties, for any technological application exploiting the materials bistability.