Solids in Ultrafast and Strong Optical Fields: New Phenomena

Note: Pizza served at 11:45 AM
Speaker: Mark Stockman, Georgia State University

When: October 5, 2012 (Fri), 12:00PM to 01:00PM (add to my calendar)
Location: SCI 352
Hosted by: Richard Averitt

This event is part of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.

We report theory and experimental results for a new class of phenomena in condensed matter optics when strong optical fields  reversibly change the solid within an optical period [1-4]. Such fields, if adiabatic, cause phenomena such as the Wannier-Stark localization and anticrossings of adiabatic levels. During a single-oscillation strong optical pulse, a dielectric undergoes a reversible transition to a semi-metal, which follows the instantaneous optical field. Such a pulse drives currents in dielectrics and controls their properties, including optical absorption and reflection, and extreme UV absorption in a non-perturbative manner. Applied to a metal, such optical pulse causes an instantaneous and reversible loss of the metallic properties. These phenomena offer potential for petahertz-bandwidth signal processing.

References

  1. M. Durach, A. Rusina, M. F. Kling, and M. I. Stockman, Metallization of Nanofilms in Strong Adiabatic Electric Fields, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 086803-1-4 (2010).
  2. M. Durach, A. Rusina, M. F. Kling, and M. I. Stockman, Predicted Ultrafast Dynamic Metallization of Dielectric Nanofilms by Strong Single-Cycle Optical Fields, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 0866021-5 (2011).
  3. A. Schiffrin, T. Paasch-Colberg, N. Karpowicz, V. Apalkov, D. Gerster, S. Mühlbrandt, M. Korbman, J. Reichert, M. Schultze, S. Holzner, J. V. Barth, R. Kienberger, R. Ernstorfer, V. S. Yakovlev, M. I. Stockman, and F. Krausz, Optical-Field-Induced Current in Dielectrics, Nature, (In Print) (2012).
  4. V. Apalkov and M. I. Stockman, Metal Nanofilm in Strong Ultrafast Optical Fields, arXiv:1209.2245 [cond-mat.mes-hall], 1-5 (2012).