High visibility in two-color above-threshold photoemission from tungsten nanotips in a coherent control scheme

Highly Localized Optical Field Enhancement at Neon Ion Sputtered Tungsten Nanotips

We present laser-driven rescattering of electrons at a nanometric protrusion (nanotip), which is fabricated with an in situ neon ion sputtering technique applied to a tungsten needle tip. Electron energy spectra obtained before and after the sputtering show rescattering features, such as a plateau and high-energy cutoff. Extracting the optical near-field enhancement in both cases, we observe a strong increase of more than 2-fold for the nanotip. Accompanying finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations show a good match with the experimentally extracted near-field strengths. Additionally, high electric field localization for the nanotip is found. The combination of transmission electron microscope imaging of such nanotips and the determination of the near-field enhancement by electron rescattering represent a full characterization of the electric near-field of these intriguing electron emitters. Ultimately, nanotips as small as single nanometers can be produced, which is of utmost interest for electron diffraction experiments and low-emittance electron sources.

Quantum Interference Visibility Spectroscopy in Two-Color Photoemission from Tungsten Needle Tips

When two-color femtosecond laser pulses interact with matter, electrons can be emitted through various multiphoton excitation pathways. Quantum interference between these pathways gives rise to a strong oscillation of the photoemitted electron current, experimentally characterized by its visibility. In this Letter, we demonstrate the two-color visibility spectroscopy of multiphoton photoemissions from a solid-state nanoemitter. We investigate the quantum pathway interference visibility over an almost octave-spanning wavelength range of the fundamental (ω) femtosecond laser pulses and their second harmonic (2ω). The photoemissions show a high visibility of 90% ±  5%, with a remarkably constant distribution. Furthermore, by varying the relative intensity ratio of the two colors, we find that we can vary the visibility between 0% and close to 100%. A simple but highly insightful theoretical model allows us to explain all observations, with excellent quantitative agreements. We expect this work to be universal to all kinds of photo-driven quantum interference, including quantum control in physics, chemistry, and quantum engineering.

From strong-field physics in and at nanoscale matter to photonics-based laser accelerators

New ways of controlling quasi-free and free electrons by means of phase-controlled ultrashort laser pulses are demonstrated: from strong-field physics in the conducting 2-d material graphene and at the surface of nanostructures, to laser acceleration of free electrons with a nanophotonic structure, and the demonstration of the longitudinal Kapitza-Dirac effect.

Two-color phase-controlled photoemission from a zero-dimensional nanostructure

We demonstrate that multi-photon photoemission including above-threshold multiphoton orders from a nanotip can be coherently controlled with the optical phase between two light fields. By focusing 74 fs drive pulses at 1560 nm and their second harmonic at 780 nm onto the tip and changing the optical phase between the two colors, we observe an emission current modulation of up to 97.5 %. Additionally, electron energy spectra reveal a homogeneous modulation of all multiphoton orders. Hence, the electron current can be strongly increased (by a factor of 3.7) or almost completely turned off due to interference between two different quantum channels in the material. We argue that the extremely high degree of coherence evidenced by this near-unity current modulation depth is due to the confinement of the local field enhancement at the nanotip. The nano-rod effect allows to apply large DC fields, adding a further degree of freedom to investigate the modulation contrast of the photoemitted electron yield. We show that for an increasing DC electric field a non-cooperative distribution of electron emission leads to a decrease in modulation contrast.

Ultrafast switching of photoemission electron through quantum pathways interference in metallic nanostructure

The localized photoemission electron originating from the plasmonic "hot spots" in a metallic bowtie nanostructure can be separately switched on and off by adjusting the relative time delay between two orthogonally polarized laser pulses. The demonstrated femtosecond timing, nanometric spatial switching of multiphoton photoemission results from the interference of quantum pathways. Energy resolved measurement of the photoemission electrons further shows that the quantum pathway interference mechanism applies to control all the liberated electrons. The experimental results also show that the probability of electron emission through the quantum pathways from a plasmonic hot spot is determined by the localized emission response to the two incident laser pulses. These findings are of importance for controlling photoemission in ultrahigh spatiotemporal resolution in metallic plasmonic nanostructures.