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arXiv · 2509.01524

Cross-process interference in single-cycle electron emission from metal needle tips

Anne Herzig·Peter Hommelhoff·Eleftherios Goulielmakis·Thomas Fennel·Lennart Seiffert
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Abstract

Though interference from different emission channels enabled a deeper understanding of strong-field photoemission in atoms and molecules, it remained out of reach for solids. Here, we explore metal needle tips under single-cycle pulses via classical trajectories extended by quantum diffusion and interference and numerical solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. We find interference of direct and backscattered electrons with fringe pattern encoding sub-cycle information on birth times and near-field driven acceleration dynamics, opening routes for ultrafast solid-state metrology.

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Anne Herzig, Peter Hommelhoff, Eleftherios Goulielmakis, Thomas Fennel, Lennart Seiffert. 2025-09-01. Cross-process interference in single-cycle electron emission from metal needle tips. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.01524

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