Acoustic wave shaping to drive insulatior-to-metal transition in volume changing materials.

This proposal aims at measuring the lattice dynamics associated with acoustic wave propagation in insulating to metal nanocrystals excited by an ultra-short laser pulse. We have demonstrated that strain propagation is the pathway for ultrafast phase transformation in this material. Here we will measure the effect of pure acoustic waves, probing lattice distortion and phase transition as a function of depth below the excited surface, and along the surface.