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arXiv · 2511.14678

Giant enhancement of attosecond tunnel ionization competes with disorder-driven decoherence in silicon

D. N. Purschke·D. Vick·A. Cárdenas·N. Haram·P. Bastani·S. Gholam-Mirzaei·S. Mokhtari·V. Jelic·J. Chen·J. Canlas·J. Tordiff·Md. W. Rahman·A. Yu. Naumov·D. M. Villeneuve·A. Staudte·M. Salomons·R. E. F. Silva·Á. Jiménez-Galán·G. Vampa
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Abstract

High-harmonic generation (HHG) is a strong-field phenomenon that is sensitive to the attosecond dynamics of tunnel ionization and coherent transport of electron-hole pairs in solids. While the foundations of solid HHG have been established, a deep understanding into the nature of decoherence on sub-cycle timescales remains elusive. Furthermore, there is a growing need for tools to control ionization at the nanoscale. Here, we study HHG in silicon along a crystalline-to-amorphous (c-Si to a-Si) structural phase transition and observe a dramatic reshaping of the spectrum, with enhanced lower-order harmonic yield accompanied by quenching of the higher-order harmonics. Modelling the real-space quantum dynamics links our observations to a giant enhancement (>250 times) of tunnel ionization yield in the amorphous phase and a disorder-induced decoherence that damps the electron-hole polarization over approximately six lattice sites. HHG spectroscopy also reveals remnant order that was not apparent with conventional probes. Finally, we observe a rapid and targeted non-resonant laser annealing of amorphous silicon islands. Our results offer a unique insight into attosecond decoherence in strong-field phenomena, establish HHG spectroscopy as a probe of structural disorder, and pave the way for new opportunities in lightwave nanoelectronics.

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D. N. Purschke, D. Vick, A. Cárdenas, N. Haram, P. Bastani, S. Gholam-Mirzaei, S. Mokhtari, V. Jelic, J. Chen, J. Canlas, J. Tordiff, Md. W. Rahman, A. Yu. Naumov, D. M. Villeneuve, A. Staudte, M. Salomons, R. E. F. Silva, Á. Jiménez-Galán, G. Vampa. 2025-11-18. Giant enhancement of attosecond tunnel ionization competes with disorder-driven decoherence in silicon. https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.14678

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