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arXiv · 1604.04107

Extremely Nonperturbative Nonlinearities in GaAs Driven by Atomically Strong Terahertz Fields in Gold Metamaterials

C. Lange·T. Maag·M. Hohenleutner·S. Baierl·O. Schubert·E. Edwards·D. Bougeard·G. Woltersdorf·R. Huber
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Abstract

Terahertz near fields of gold metamaterials resonant at a frequency of $0.88\,\rm THz$ allow us to enter an extreme limit of non-perturbative ultrafast THz electronics: Fields reaching a ponderomotive energy in the keV range are exploited to drive nondestructive, quasi-static interband tunneling and impact ionization in undoped bulk GaAs, injecting electron-hole plasmas with densities in excess of $10^{19}\,\rm cm^{-3}$. This process causes bright luminescence at energies up to $0.5\,\rm eV$ above the band gap and induces a complete switch-off of the metamaterial resonance accompanied by self-amplitude modulation of transmitted few-cycle THz transients. Our results pave the way towards highly nonlinear THz optics and optoelectronic nanocircuitry with sub-picosecond switching times.

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C. Lange, T. Maag, M. Hohenleutner, S. Baierl, O. Schubert, E. Edwards, D. Bougeard, G. Woltersdorf, R. Huber. 2016-04-14. Extremely Nonperturbative Nonlinearities in GaAs Driven by Atomically Strong Terahertz Fields in Gold Metamaterials. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.113.227401

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