Real-time observation of interfering crystal electrons in high-harmonic generation
Top Cited Papers
- 29 July 2015
- journal article
- letter
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature
- Vol. 523 (7562), 572-575
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14652
Abstract
Acceleration and collision of particles has been a key strategy for exploring the texture of matter. Strong light waves can control and recollide electronic wavepackets, generating high-harmonic radiation that encodes the structure and dynamics of atoms and molecules and lays the foundations of attosecond science1,2,3. The recent discovery of high-harmonic generation in bulk solids4,5,6 combines the idea of ultrafast acceleration with complex condensed matter systems, and provides hope for compact solid-state attosecond sources6,7,8 and electronics at optical frequencies3,5,9,10. Yet the underlying quantum motion has not so far been observable in real time. Here we study high-harmonic generation in a bulk solid directly in the time domain, and reveal a new kind of strong-field excitation in the crystal. Unlike established atomic sources1,2,3,9,11, our solid emits high-harmonic radiation as a sequence of subcycle bursts that coincide temporally with the field crests of one polarity of the driving terahertz waveform. We show that these features are characteristic of a non-perturbative quantum interference process that involves electrons from multiple valence bands. These results identify key mechanisms for future solid-state attosecond sources and next-generation light-wave electronics. The new quantum interference process justifies the hope for all-optical band-structure reconstruction and lays the foundation for possible quantum logic operations at optical clock rates.Keywords
This publication has 47 references indexed in Scilit:
- Quantum computersNature, 2010
- Microscopic analysis of extreme nonlinear optics in semiconductor nanostructuresJournal of the Optical Society of America B, 2006
- Measuring and controlling the birth of attosecond XUV pulsesNature Physics, 2006
- Measurement of the Intensity-Dependent Atomic Dipole Phase of a High Harmonic by Frequency-Resolved Optical GatingPhysical Review Letters, 2002
- Quantum theory of spontaneous emission and coherent effects in semiconductor microstructuresProgress in Quantum Electronics, 1999
- Direct Observation of the Gouy Phase Shift with Single-Cycle Terahertz PulsesPhysical Review Letters, 1999
- Electro-optic detection of terahertz radiationJournal of the Optical Society of America B, 1999
- Recent progress toward real-time measurement of ultrashort laser pulsesIEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 1999
- Strong optical nonlinearities in gallium and indium selenides related to inter-valence-band transitions induced by light pulsesPhysical Review B, 1997
- Optical properties of GaSe andmixed crystalsPhysical Review B, 1976