Optical manipulation of electron emission at metal-insulator interface for all-solid-state light phase detector

Abstract

For the study of attosecond physics and petahertz electronics, it is necessary to measure precisely the optical waveform of short pulses, including the carrier-envelope phase. A promising approach is to use the optical field emission from metal nanostructure, where the electron tunneling from metal surface is driven by plasmonic near fields. However, there have been problems of low current levels and laser-induced damages of metal nanostructures. Here, we develop an all-solid-state optical-field detector based on metal-insulator hybrid nanostructures, which works in the nanojoule range. The photoelectric efficiency is substantially increased because of the lowered energy barrier for photoemission and the higher near-field enhancements originating from the metal-insulator-metal plasmon. Laser-induced damage resistance is also improved by encapsulating the metal nanoantennas with dielectric materials.