Sharp metallic nanotapers irradiated with few-cycle laser pulses are emerging as a source of highly confined coherent electron wavepackets with attosecond duration and strong directivity. The possibility to steer, control or switch such electron wavepackets by light is expected to pave the way towards direct visualization of nanoplasmonic field dynamics and real-time probing of electron motion in solid state nanostructures. Such pulses can be generated by strong-field induced tunneling and acceleration of electrons in the near-field of sharp gold tapers within one half-cycle of the driving laser field. Here, we show the effect of the carrier-envelope phase of the laser field on the generation and motion of strong-field emitted electrons from such tips. This is a step forward towards controlling the coherent electron motion in and around metallic nanostructures on ultrashort length and time scales.
We present a joint experimental-theoretical study on the effect of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of a few-cycle pulse on the atomic excitation process. We focus on the excitation rates of argon as a function of CEP in the intensity range from 50-300 TW/cm$^2$, which covers the transition between the multiphoton and tunneling regimes. Through numerical simulations based on solving the time-dependent Schr{o}dinger equation (TDSE), we show that the resulting bound-state population is highly sensitive to both the intensity and the CEP. Because the intensity varies over the interaction region, the CEP effect is considerably reduced in the experiment. Nevertheless, the data clearly agree with the theoretical prediction, and the results encourage the use of precisely tailored laser fields to coherently control the strong-field excitation process. We find a markedly different behavior for the CEP-dependent bound-state population at low and high intensities with a clear boundary, which we attribute to the transition from the multiphoton to the tunneling regime.
Ultrafast control of electron dynamics in solid state systems has recently found particular attention. By increasing the electric field strength of laser pulses, the light-matter interaction in solids might turn from a perturbative into a novel non-perturbative regime, where interband transitions from the valence to the conduction band become strongly affected by intraband motion. We have demonstrated experimentally and numerically that this combined dynamics can be controlled in graphene with the electric field waveform of phase-stabilized few-cycle laser pulses. Here we show new experimental data and matching simulation results at comparably low optical fields, which allows us to focus on the highly interesting transition regime where the light-matter interaction turns from perturbative to non-perturbative. We find a 5th order power-law scaling of the laser induced waveform-dependent current at low optical fields, which breaks down for higher optical fields, indicating the transition.
We numerically study the interaction of a terahertz pulse with monolayer graphene. We observe that the electron momentum density is affected by the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the single- to few-cycle terahertz laser pulse that induces the electron dynamics. In particular, we see strong asymmetric electron momentum distributions for non-zero values of the CEP. We explain the origin of the asymmetry within the adiabatic-impulse model by finding conditions to reach minimal adiabatic gap between the valence band and the conduction band. We discuss how these conditions and the interference pattern, emanating from successive non-adiabatic transitions at this minimal gap, affect the electron momentum density and how they are modified by the CEP. This opens the door to control fundamental time-dependent electron dynamics in the tunneling regime in Dirac materials. Also, this control suggests a way to measure the CEP of a terahertz laser pulse when it interacts with condensed matter systems.
Controlling the carrier envelope phase (CEP) in mode-locked lasers over practically long timescales is crucial for real-world applications in ultrafast optics and precision metrology. We present a hybrid solution that combines a feed-forward technique to stabilize the phase offset in fast timescales and a feedback technique that addresses slowly varying sources of interference and locking bandwidth limitations associated with gain media with long upper-state lifetimes. We experimentally realize the hybrid stabilization system in an Er:Yb:glass mode-locked laser and demonstrate 75 hours of stabilization with integrated phase noise of 14 mrad (1 Hz to 3 MHz), corresponding to around 11 as of carrier to envelope jitter. Additionally, we examine the impact of environmental factors, such as humidity and pressure, on the long-term stability and performance of the system.
The ability to measure and control the carrier envelope phase (CEP) of few-cycle laser pulses is of paramount importance for both frequency metrology and attosecond science. Here, we present a phase meter relying on the CEP-dependent photocurrents induced by circularly polarized few-cycle pulses focused between electrodes in ambient air. The new device facilitates compact single-shot, CEP measurements under ambient conditions and promises CEP tagging at repetition rates orders of magnitude higher than most conventional CEP detection schemes as well as straightforward implementation at longer wavelengths.
Bjoern Piglosiewicz
,Slawa Schmidt
,Doo Jae Park
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(2013)
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"Carrier-envelope phase effects on the strong-field photoemission of electrons from metallic nanostructures"
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Petra Gross
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