arXiv subjects

Christoph Lienau

Publications and source records attributed to Christoph Lienau.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Vectorial near-field coupling

The coherent exchange of optical near fields between two neighboring dipoles plays an essential role for the optical properties, quantum dynamics and thus for the function of many naturally occurring and artificial nanosystems. These interactions are inherently short-ranged, extending over a few nanometers only, and depend sensitively on relative orientation, detuning and dephasing, i.e., on the vectorial properties of the coupled dipolar near fields. This makes it challenging to analyze them experimentally. Here, we introduce plasmonic nanofocusing spectroscopy to record coherent light scattering spectra with 5-nm spatial resolution from a small dipole antenna, excited solely by evanescent fields and coupled to plasmon resonances in a single gold nanorod. We resolve mode couplings, resonance energy shifts and Purcell effects as a function of dipole distance and relative orientation, and show how they arise from different vectorial components of the interacting optical near-fields. Our results pave the way for using dipolar alignment to control the optical properties and function of nanoscale systems.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Watching charge separation in nanoantennas by ultrafast point-projection electron microscopy

Watching the motion of electrons on their natural nanometre length- and femtosecond time scales is a fundamental goal and an open challenge of contemporary ultrafast science. Optical techniques and electron microscopy currently mostly provide either ultrahigh temporal or spatial resolution, yet, microscopy techniques with combined space-time resolution need further development. Here we create an ultrafast electron source by plasmon nanofocusing on a sharp gold taper and implement this source in an ultrafast point-projection electron microscope. This source is used, in an optical pump - electron probe experiment, to study ultrafast photoemission from a nanometer-sized plasmonic antenna. We show that the real space motion of the photoemitted electrons and residual holes in the metal is probed with 20-nm spatial resolution and 25-fs time resolution. This is a step forward towards time-resolved microscopy of electronic motion in nanostructures.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2016

Watching the coherent birth of polaron pairs in conjugated polymers

Organic semiconductors have the remarkable property that their optical excitation not only generates charge-neutral electron-hole pairs (excitons) but also charge-separated polaron pairs with high yield. The microscopic mechanisms underlying this charge separation have been debated for many years. Here we use ultrafast two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to study the dynamics of polaron pair formation in a prototypical polymer thin film on a sub-20-fs time scale. We observe multi-period peak oscillations persisting for up to about 1 ps as distinct signatures of vibronic quantum coherence at room temperature. The measured two-dimensional spectra show pronounced peak splittings revealing that the elementary optical excitations of this polymer are hybridized exciton-polaron-pairs, strongly coupled to a dominant underdamped vibrational mode. Coherent vibronic coupling induces ultrafast polaron pair formation, accelerates the charge separation dynamics and makes it insensitive to disorder. These findings open up new perspectives for tailoring light-to-current conversion in organic materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

k-space Imaging of the Eigenmodes of Sharp Gold Tapers for Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy

We investigate the radiation patterns of sharp conical gold tapers, designed as adiabatic nanofocusing probes for scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM). Field calculations show that only the lowest order eigenmode of such a taper can reach the very apex and thus induce the generation of strongly enhanced near-field signals. Higher order modes are coupled into the far field at finite distances from the apex. Here, we demonstrate experimentally how to distinguish and separate between the lowest and higher order eigenmodes of such a metallic taper by filtering in the spatial frequency domain. Our approach has the potential to considerably improve the signal-to-background ratio in spectroscopic experiments on the nanoscale.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Wave front adaptation using a deformable mirror for adiabatic nanofocusing along an ultrasharp gold taper

We describe and demonstrate the use of an adaptive wave front optimization scheme for enhancing the efficiency of adiabatic nanofocusing of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves along an ultrasharp conical gold taper. Adiabatic nanofocusing is an emerging and promising scheme for controlled focusing of far field light into nanometric volumes. It comprises three essential steps: SPP excitation by coupling far field light to an SPP waveguide, SPP propagation along the waveguide and adiabatic SPP nanofocusing towards a geometric singularity. For commonly used complex waveguide geometries, such as, e.g., conical metal tapers, a realistic modeling and efficiency optimization is challenging. Here, we use a deformable mirror to adaptively control the wave front of the incident far field light. We demonstrate an eight-fold enhancement in nanofocusing efficiency and analyze the shape of the resulting optimized wave front. The introduced wave front optimization scheme is of general interest for guiding and controlling light on the nanoscale.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Carrier-envelope phase effects on the strong-field photoemission of electrons from metallic nanostructures

Sharp metallic nanotapers irradiated with few-cycle laser pulses are emerging as a source of highly confined coherent electron wavepackets with attosecond duration and strong directivity. The possibility to steer, control or switch such electron wavepackets by light is expected to pave the way towards direct visualization of nanoplasmonic field dynamics and real-time probing of electron motion in solid state nanostructures. Such pulses can be generated by strong-field induced tunneling and acceleration of electrons in the near-field of sharp gold tapers within one half-cycle of the driving laser field. Here, we show the effect of the carrier-envelope phase of the laser field on the generation and motion of strong-field emitted electrons from such tips. This is a step forward towards controlling the coherent electron motion in and around metallic nanostructures on ultrashort length and time scales.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2010

Analytic Dirac approximation for real linear algebraic groups

For a real linear algebraic group G let A(G) be the algebra of analytic vectors for the left regular representation of G on the space of superexponentially decreasing functions. We present an explicit Dirac sequence in A(G). Since A(G) acts on E for every Frechet-representation (π,E) of moderate growth, this yields an elementary proof of a result of Nelson that the space of analytic vectors is dense in E.

math.RT↗

arXiv2009

Analytic factorization of Lie group representations

For every moderate growth representation of a real Lie group G on a Frechet space E, we prove a factorization theorem of Dixmier--Malliavin type for the space of analytic vectors E^ω. There exists a natural algebra of superexponentially decreasing analytic functions A(G), such that E^ω = A(G) * E^ω. As a corollary we obtain that E^ωcoincides with the space of analytic vectors for the Laplace--Beltrami operator on G.

math.RT↗