Journal Article

Controlling dielectrics with the electric field of light

Fiess, Markus, Bothschafter, Elisabeth M., Yakovlev, Vladislav S., Kienberger, Reinhard, Hofstetter, Michael, Sommer, Annkatrin, Stockman, Mark I., Holzner, Simon, Krausz, Ferenc, Apalkov, Vadym, Schweinberger, Wolfgang, Schultze, Martin

2013

Overview

The ultrafast reversibility of changes to the electronic structure and electric polarizability of a dielectric with the electric field of a laser pulse, demonstrated here, offers the potential for petahertz-bandwidth optical signal manipulation. Dielectrics turned conductor in a flash Two studies published in this issue highlight the potential for ultrafast signal manipulation in dielectrics using optical fields. When it comes to electrical signal processing, semiconductors have become the materials of choice. However, insulators such as dielectrics could be attractive alternatives: they have a fast response in principle, but usually have extremely low conductivity at low electric fields and break down in large fields. The electronic properties of dielectrics can be controlled with few-cycle laser pulses that permit damage-free exposure of dielectrics to high electric fields. Agustin Schiffrin et al . demonstrate that strong optical laser fields with controlled few-cycle waveforms can reversibly transform a dielectric insulator into a conductor within the optical period (within one femtosecond). Martin Schultze et al . address the crucial issue of ultrafast reversibility, demonstrating that the dielectric can be repeatedly switched 'on' and 'off' with light fields, without degradation. The control of the electric and optical properties of semiconductors with microwave fields forms the basis of modern electronics, information processing and optical communications. The extension of such control to optical frequencies calls for wideband materials such as dielectrics, which require strong electric fields to alter their physical properties 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 . Few-cycle laser pulses permit damage-free exposure of dielectrics to electric fields of several volts per ångström 6 and significant modifications in their electronic system 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 . Fields of such strength and temporal confinement can turn a dielectric from an insulating state to a conducting state within the optical period 14 . However, to extend electric signal control and processing to light frequencies depends on the feasibility of reversing these effects approximately as fast as they can be induced. Here we study the underlying electron processes with sub-femtosecond solid-state spectroscopy, which reveals the feasibility of manipulating the electronic structure and electric polarizability of a dielectric reversibly with the electric field of light. We irradiate a dielectric (fused silica) with a waveform-controlled near-infrared few-cycle light field of several volts per angström and probe changes in extreme-ultraviolet absorptivity and near-infrared reflectivity on a timescale of approximately a hundred attoseconds to a few femtoseconds. The field-induced changes follow, in a highly nonlinear fashion, the turn-on and turn-off behaviour of the driving field, in agreement with the predictions of a quantum mechanical model. The ultrafast reversibility of the effects implies that the physical properties of a dielectric can be controlled with the electric field of light, offering the potential for petahertz-bandwidth signal manipulation.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 639/624/400/584 / Applied sciences / Dielectrics / Electric fields / Electric potential / Electronics / Exact sciences and technology / Experiments / Feasibility / Femtosecond / Humanities and Social Sciences / Lasers / letter / Light / Materials / multidisciplinary / Optical properties / Physical properties / Properties / Quantum theory / Science / Semiconductors / Silica / Spectrum analysis