Observation of Weakened V-V Dimers in the Monoclinic Metallic Phase of Strained VO_{2}.

Emergent order at mesoscopic length scales in condensed matter can provide fundamental insight into the underlying competing interactions and their relationship with the order parameter. Using spectromicroscopy, we show that mesoscopic stripe order near the metal-insulator transition (MIT) of strained VO_{2} represents periodic modulations in both crystal symmetry and V-V dimerization. Above the MIT, we unexpectedly find the long-range order of V-V dimer strength and crystal symmetry become dissociated beyond ≈200  nm, whereas the conductivity transition proceeds homogeneously in a narrow temperature range.