Tracing attosecond electron emission from a nanometric metal tip
Dienstbier P, Seiffert L, Paschen T, Liehl A, Leitensdorfer A, Fennel T, Hommelhoff P (2023)
Publication Language: English
Publication Status: Published
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2023
Journal
Book Volume: 616
Pages Range: 702-706
Journal Issue: 7958
URI: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05839-6
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05839-6
Abstract
Solids exposed to intense electric fields release electrons through tunnelling. This fundamental quantum process lies at the heart of various applications, ranging from high brightness electron sources in d.c. operation to petahertz vacuum electronics in laser-driven operation. In the latter process, the electron wavepacket undergoes semiclassical dynamics in the strong oscillating laser field, similar to strong-field and attosecond physics in the gas phase. There, the subcycle electron dynamics has been determined with a stunning precision of tens of attoseconds, but at solids the quantum dynamics including the emission time window has so far not been measured. Here we show that two-colour modulation spectroscopy of backscattering electrons uncovers the suboptical-cycle strong-field emission dynamics from nanostructures, with attosecond precision. In our experiment, photoelectron spectra of electrons emitted from a sharp metallic tip are measured as function of the relative phase between the two colours. Projecting the solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation onto classical trajectories relates phase-dependent signatures in the spectra to the emission dynamics and yields an emission duration of 710 ± 30 attoseconds by matching the quantum model to the experiment. Our results open the door to the quantitative timing and precise active control of strong-field photoemission from solid state and other systems and have direct ramifications for diverse fields such as ultrafast electron sources, quantum degeneracy studies and sub-Poissonian electron beams, nanoplasmonics and petahertz electronics.
Authors with CRIS profile
Philip Dienstbier
Lehrstuhl für Laserphysik
Timo Paschen
Lehrstuhl für Laserphysik
Peter Hommelhoff
Lehrstuhl für Laserphysik
Additional Organisation(s)
Involved external institutions
Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) / Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
Germany (DE)
Universität Konstanz
Germany (DE)
Universität Rostock
Germany (DE)
Germany (DE)
Universität Konstanz
Germany (DE)
Universität Rostock
Germany (DE)
How to cite
APA:
Dienstbier, P., Seiffert, L., Paschen, T., Liehl, A., Leitensdorfer, A., Fennel, T., & Hommelhoff, P. (2023). Tracing attosecond electron emission from a nanometric metal tip. Nature, 616(7958), 702-706. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05839-6
MLA:
Dienstbier, Philip, et al. "Tracing attosecond electron emission from a nanometric metal tip." Nature 616.7958 (2023): 702-706.
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