Numerical investigation of nonlinear photothermal effect in Vanadium Dioxide phase-change particles

Modulating the material temperature as well as its optical response promises various potential applications of photothermal effects. In this work, we develop a self-consistent simulation scheme to investigate the nonlinear photothermal response of Vanadium Dioxide (VO2) particles where the material can be driven from insulating to semiconducting phases or vice versa. Our results indicate that the photothermal-induced phase change process can be an efficient degree of freedom in designing micro- or nanoscale structures for photothermal applications. Moreover, for particle dimers, the particle temperature can be tuned by varying the particle distance and the polarization of the incident light. Our findings then suggest the possibility for designing and optimizing particle dimers to characterize the light polarization by measuring dimer temperature.