Rostock 2019 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 39: Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Q 39.8: Talk

Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 16:00–16:15, S SR 211 Maschb.

Steering electrons in graphene with few-cycle laser pulses — •Tobias Boolakee, Christian Heide, Takuya Higuchi, Heiko B. Weber, and Peter Hommelhoff — Department Physik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 91058 Erlangen

We present recent advances on light-field driven electron dynamics in epitaxially grown monolayer graphene. Illuminating the monolayer with few-cycle laser pulses results in a carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) and polarization state dependent photocurrent that is sensitive to the waveform of the laser pulses on a sub-optical-cycle time scale [1]. We observe a transition of the laser-induced photocurrent from the perturbative regime towards the strong-field regime at a field strength of 2 V/nm. A tight-binding-model simulation supports this observation as a manifestation of Landau-Zener-Stückelberg interference. This finding allows us to investigate quantum-path interference and transport phenomena in graphene. Particularly, we can use the polarization state of the laser pulses to control electron trajectories coherently and thus the ensuing currents [2].

[1] Higuchi, T. et al., Nature 550, 224-228 (2017).

[2] Heide, C. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 207401 (2018).