2022/05/22 by Pierre Février, Février, P., J. Basset +7
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research #Quantum and electron transport phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2205.10845
openalex publication_date 2022/05/22 · openalex created_date 2023/02/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study the optical rectification in a metallic tunnel junction. We consider a planar junction in a Kretschmann configuration and measure the photon-assisted tunneling under infrared illumination at λ= 1.5 μm. To address the microscopic mechanism at the origin of the optical rectification, we compare the photon assisted current and the current-voltage characteristics of the junction measured on a voltage range much greater than V0=(hc)/(eλ)=0.825 V. The experimental results do not agree with the Tucker theory based on the exchange of energy quanta between electrons and photons and describing the dc current induced by photon-assisted processes in terms of a linear combination of the shifted characteristics I(V) and I(V± V0). We show instead that the illumination power mainly goes into heating and that the rectification results mainly from the non-linearity of the tunnel junction at optical frequency.