2006/07/02 by Peter Hommelhoff, Catherine Kealhofer, Mark A. Kasevich · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.97.247402
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 247402 (2006) · 4 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2006/07/02 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present an experimental and numerical study of electron emission from a sharp tungsten tip triggered by sub-8-fs low-power laser pulses. This process is nonlinear in the laser electric field, and the nonlinearity can be tuned via the dc voltage applied to the tip. Numerical simulations of this system show that electron emission takes place within less than one optical period of the exciting laser pulse, so that an 8 fs 800 nm laser pulse is capable of producing a single electron pulse of less than 1 fs duration. Furthermore, we find that the carrier-envelope phase dependence of the emission process is smaller than 0.1% for an 8 fs pulse but is steeply increasing with decreasing laser pulse duration.