Excitonic quenching of the oxygen-chain phonon in the photoinduced metal-to-insulator transition of photoexcited Sr0.95NbO3.37 studied by ultraviolet-resonance Raman scattering

The quasi-one-dimensional metal Sr0.95NbO3.37 shows a metal-to-insulator transition upon laser-induced pumping of the d-d exciton at 1.1 eV. The oxygen-chain-related phonon modes are highly susceptible to this metal-to-insulator transition due to their sensitivity to structural and electronic changes. We employ angle-dependent UV-resonance Raman spectroscopy to probe the nonequilibrium oxygen-chain-related phonon dynamics and the concomitant changes in the angle-dependent midinfrared reflectance. The latter shows the expected reduction of charge carrier density upon pumping, whereas the central chain mode at 680 cm-1 can be selectively quenched upon pumping the d-d excitons. We find that the underlying quenching mechanism for this phonon is electronically driven and related to the photo-induced bleaching of the charge-transfer transition. First-principles calculations show the connection between phonon dispersion and electronic band structure leading to the selective quenching of the oxygen-chain mode. Our results contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between lattice and charge degrees of freedom for exciton-based optoelectronics.