Hannover 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 52: Ultrashort Laser Pulses II

Q 52.4: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 3. März 2016, 15:15–15:30, a310

Charge transfer between unbiased metallic nanocontacts illuminated by phase-controlled ultrashort light pulses — •Andrey S. Moskalenko, Daniele Brida, Tobias Rybka, Alfred Leitenstorfer, and Guido Burkard — Department of Physics and Center for Applied Photonics, University of Konstanz, Germany

We theoretically investigate tunneling through free space nanogaps, which are formed between metallic nanocontacts, driven by few-fs broadband light pulses. Since the seminal work of Keldysh [1], it is known that the tunneling process can be significantly influenced by the energy gain as the electron moves in the classically forbidden region. In the past, this was demonstrated theoretically for atomic ionization by ultrashort light pulses [2]. We argue that the analogous regime is realizable for experimentally available nanocontacts and light pulses. In a certain range of parameters, a decrease of the pulse duration leads to a drastic increase of the tunneling probability.

Taking realistic pulse profiles and nanostructure configurations and using a time-dependent quasiclassical approach, we demonstrate that the preferred direction of the electron transport through the nanogap can be controlled by changing the carrier-envelope phase of the pulse, in agreement with our recent experimental findings. We calculate the tunneling probability and estimate the amount of transferred electrons per pulse in dependence on the parameters of the pulse and nanogap.

[1] L.V. Keldysh, Sov. Phys. JETP 20, 1307 (1965).

[2] V.S. Popov, Phys. Usp. 47, 855 (2004).