Femtosecond Field-Driven On-Chip Unidirectional Electronic Currents in Nonadiabatic Tunneling Regime

verfasst von

Liping Shi, Ihar Babushkin, Anton Husakou, Oliver Melchert, Bettina Frank, Juemin Yi, Gustav Wetzel, Ayhan Demircan, Christoph Lienau, Harald Giessen, Misha Ivanov, Uwe Morgner, Milutin Kovacev

Abstract

Recently, asymmetric plasmonic nanojunctions [Karnetzky et. al., Nature Comm. 2471, 9 (2018)] have shown promise as on-chip electronic devices to convert femtosecond optical pulses to current bursts, with a bandwidth of multi-terahertz scale, although yet at low temperatures and pressures. Such nanoscale devices are of great interest for novel ultrafast electronics and opto-electronic applications. Here, we operate the device in air and at room temperature, revealing the mechanisms of photoemission from plasmonic nanojunctions, and the fundamental limitations on the speed of optical-to-electronic conversion. Inter-cycle interference of coherent electronic wavepackets results in a complex energy electron distribution and birth of multiphoton effects. This energy structure, as well as reshaping of the wavepackets during their propagation from one tip to the other, determine the ultrafast dynamics of the current. We show that, up to some level of approximation, the electron flight time is well-determined by the mean ponderomotive velocity in the driving field.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Quantenoptik
PhoenixD: Simulation, Fabrikation und Anwendung optischer Systeme
Institut für Materialien und Bauelemente der Elektronik
QuantumFrontiers

Externe Organisation(en)

Max-Born-Institut für Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie (MBI)
Westlake University
Westlake Institute for Advanced Study
Universität Stuttgart
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Laser & photonics reviews

Band

15

Anzahl der Seiten

9

ISSN

1863-8880

Publikationsdatum

08.2021

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Elektronische, optische und magnetische Materialien, Physik der kondensierten Materie, Atom- und Molekularphysik sowie Optik

Elektronische Version(en)

https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.03091v1 (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.202000475 (Zugang: Offen)