Few-Femtosecond and Attosecond Electron Dynamics at Surfaces

Abstract

AbstractAttosecond science recently celebrated its first decade which brought fascinating new insights into the dynamics of electrons in atoms and simple molecules. Most of these achievements are enabled by implementing attosecond extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) light bursts together with few-cycle near-infrared (NIR) and ultraviolet (UV) laser pulses in different pump-probe configurations. However, the application of these novel experimental tools for time-resolving attosecond and few-femtosecond electron dynamics in the solid state is still very limited. The study of electron dynamics in bulk materials, their surfaces and interfaces is crucial for both advancing our fundamental understanding of these processes and their application in future technological devices. In this chapter, electron dynamics in condensed matter will be reviewed in the light of open questions that can be addressed with state-of-the-art time-resolved spectroscopy. Experimental prerequisites particular to the study of condensed matter systems are discussed. The potential of using ultrashort light pulses to investigate electron dynamics at surfaces on ultrashort timescales is illustrated by few-femtosecond transient UV-reflectivity and attosecond time-resolved XUV-photoemission experiments on metal surfaces, semiconductors, and more complex adsorbate-substrate systems.KeywordsElectron DynamicHigh Harmonic GenerationAttosecond PulseEscape DepthUltrashort Light PulseThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.