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Femtosecond Field‐Driven On‐Chip Unidirectional Electronic Currents in Nonadiabatic Tunneling Regime
Author(s) -
Shi Liping,
Babushkin Ihar,
Husakou Anton,
Melchert Oliver,
Frank Bettina,
Yi Juemin,
Wetzel Gustav,
Demircan Ayhan,
Lienau Christoph,
Giessen Harald,
Ivanov Misha,
Morgner Uwe,
Kovacev Milutin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
laser and photonics reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.778
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1863-8899
pISSN - 1863-8880
DOI - 10.1002/lpor.202000475
Subject(s) - femtosecond , ultrashort pulse , plasmon , physics , electronics , optoelectronics , electron , terahertz radiation , picosecond , materials science , laser , optics , chemistry , quantum mechanics
Recently, asymmetric plasmonic nanojunctions 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, the device is operated 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. It is shown that, up to some level of approximation, the electron flight time is well‐determined by the mean ponderomotive velocity in the driving field.