Subcycle surface electron emission driven by strong-field terahertz waveforms.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37852982.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-42316-0 and PMC identifier 10584819.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The advent of intense terahertz (THz) sources opened a new era when the demonstration of the acceleration and manipulation of free electrons by THz pulses became within reach. THz-field-driven electron emission was predicted to be confined to a single burst due to the single-cycle waveform. Here we demonstrate the confinement of single-cycle THz-waveform-driven electron emission to one of the two half cycles from a solid surface emitter. Either the leading or the trailing half cycle was active, controlled by reversing the field polarity. THz-driven single-burst surface electron emission sources, which do not rely on field-enhancement structures, will impact the development of THz-powered electron acceleration and manipulation devices, all-THz compact electron sources, THz waveguides and telecommunication, THz-field-based measurement techniques and solid-state devices.