Impact of DC bias on weak optical-field-driven electron emission in nano-vacuum-gap detectors
Abstract
In this work, we investigate multiphoton and optical field tunneling emission from metallic surfaces with nanoscale vacuum gaps. Using time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) simulations, we find that the properties of the emitted photocurrent in such systems can be greatly altered by the application of only a few-volt direct current (DC) bias. We find that when coupled with expected plasmonic enhancements within the nanometer-scale metallic gaps, the application of this DC bias significantly reduces the threshold for the transition to optical-field-driven tunneling from the metal surface, and could sufficiently enhance the emitted photocurrents, to make it feasible to electronically tag fJ ultrafast pulses at room temperature. Given the petahertz-scale instantaneous response of the photocurrents, and the low effective capacitance of thin-film nanoantenna devices that enables 1 f s response time, detectors that exploit this bias-enhanced surface emission from nanoscale vacuum gaps could prove to be useful for communication, petahertz electronics, and ultrafast optical-field-resolved metrology.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1364/josab.413680
Entities
People
- Denis R. Candido
- Felix Ritzkowsky
- Karl K Berggren
- Marco Turchetti
- Michael E. Flatté
- Mina R. Bionta
- Phillip D Keathley
- Yujia Yang
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Army Research Office
- DESY
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- National Science Foundation
- University of Iowa