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arXiv · 2303.16647

Real-Time Tracking of Coherent Oscillations of Electrons in a Nanodevice by Photo-assisted Tunnelling

Yang Luo·Frank Neubrech·Alberto Martin-Jimenez·Na Liu·Klaus Kern·Manish Garg
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Abstract

Coherent collective oscillations of electrons excited in metallic nanostructures (localized surface plasmons) can confine incident light to atomic scales and enable strong light-matter interactions, which depend nonlinearly on the local field. Direct sampling of such collective electron oscillations in real-time is crucial to performing petahertz scale optical modulation, control, and readout in a quantum nanodevice. Here, we demonstrate real-time tracking of collective electron oscillations in an Au bowtie nanoantenna, by recording photo-assisted tunnelling currents generated by such oscillations in this quantum nanodevice. The collective electron oscillations show a noninstantaneous response to the driving laser fields with a decay time of nearly 10 femtoseconds. The temporal evolution of nonlinear electron oscillations resulting from the coherent nonlinear optical response of the nanodevice were also traced in real-time. The contributions of linear and nonlinear electron oscillations in the generated tunnelling currents in the nanodevice were precisely determined. A coherent control of electron oscillations in the nanodevice is illustrated directly in the time domain. Functioning in ambient conditions, the excitation, coherent control, and read-out of coherent electron oscillations pave the way toward on-chip light-wave electronics in quantum nanodevices.

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Yang Luo, Frank Neubrech, Alberto Martin-Jimenez, Na Liu, Klaus Kern, Manish Garg. 2023-03-29. Real-Time Tracking of Coherent Oscillations of Electrons in a Nanodevice by Photo-assisted Tunnelling. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.16647

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