Sub-cycle optical control of current in a semiconductor: from the multiphoton to the tunneling regime

Abstract

Nonlinear interactions between ultrashort optical waveforms and solids can be used to induce and steer electric current on a femtosecond (fs) timescale, holding promise for electronic signal processing at PHz frequencies [Nature 493, 70 (2013)]. So far, this approach has been limited to insulators, requiring extremely strong peak electric fields and intensities. Here, we show all-optical generation and control of directly measurable electric current in a semiconductor relevant for high-speed and high-power (opto)electronics, gallium nitride (GaN), within an optical cycle and on a timescale shorter than 2 fs, at intensities at least an order of magnitude lower than those required for dielectrics. Our approach opens the door to PHz electronics and metrology, applicable to low-power (non-amplified) laser pulses, and may lead to future applications in semiconductor and photonic integrated circuit technologies.

References in corpus (5)

• Free-carrier screening of polarization fields in wurtzite GaN/InGaN laser structures
• Strong-Field Resonant Dynamics in Semiconductors
• Robust ultrafast currents in molecular wires through Stark shifts
• Theory of strong-field injection and control of photocurrent in dielectrics and wide bandgap semiconductors
• Minimum requirements for laser-induced symmetry breaking in quantum and classical mechanics

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Strong-field Phenomena in Periodic Systems
• Perspective on petahertz electronics and attosecond nanoscopy
• Femtosecond valley polarization and topological resonances in transition metal dichalcogenides
• Attosecond light field synthesis for electron motion control
• Quantum-trajectory analysis for charge transfer in solid materials induced by strong laser fields
• Light-induced quantum tunnelling current in graphene
• Non-Markovian pure dephasing in a dielectric excited by a few-cycle laser pulse
• The emergence of macroscopic currents in photoconductive sampling of optical fields
• Atomic real-space perspective of light-field-driven currents in graphene
• Ensemble properties of charge carriers injected by an ultrashort laser pulse
• Sub-cycle dynamics of electron-hole pairs and high-harmonic generation in bulk diamond subjected to intense femtosecond laser pulse
• Stark Control of Electrons Across the Molecule-Semiconductor Interface