Attosecond optical-field-enhanced carrier injection into the GaAs conduction band
Nature Physics 14, 560 - 564 (2018)
Attosecond optical-field-enhanced carrier injection into the GaAs conduction band
by strong electric fields is essential for future applications,ranging from nanoscale transistors1,2 to high-speed electrooptical switches3. How fast and at what rate can electrons be injected into the conduction band of a solid? Here, we investigate the sub-femtosecond response of GaAs induced by resonant intense near-infrared laser pulses using attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. In particular, we unravel the distinct role of intra- versus interband transitions. Surprisingly, we found that despite the resonant driving laser,the optical response during the light–matter interaction is dominated by intraband motion. Furthermore, we observed that the coupling between the two mechanisms results in a significant enhancement of the carrier injection from the valence into the conduction band. This is especially unexpected as the intraband mechanism itself can accelerate carriers only within the same band. This physical phenomenon could be used to control ultrafast carrier excitation and boost injection rates in electronic switches in the petahertz regime.
Additional Information
- Download
- Preprint - 2.86 MB
- Doi
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0069-0
- Notes
- We thank M. C. Golling for growing the GaAs, and J. Leuthold and C. Bolognesi for helpful discussion. The authors acknowledge the support of the technology and cleanroom facility at Frontiers in Research: Space and Time (FIRST) of ETH Zurich for advanced micro- and nanotechnology. This work was supported by the National Center of Competence in Research Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology (NCCR MUST) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and by JSPS KAKENHI grant no. 26-1511.