Journal
NATURE
Volume 449, Issue 7165, Pages 1029-1032Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nature06229
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Comprehensive knowledge of the dynamic behaviour of electrons in condensed-matter systems is pertinent to the development of many modern technologies, such as semiconductor and molecular electronics, optoelectronics, information processing and photo-voltaics. Yet it remains challenging to probe electronic processes, many of which take place in the attosecond (1 as = 10(-18) s) regime. In contrast, atomic motion occurs on the femtosecond (1 fs = 10(-15) s) timescale and has been mapped in solids in real time(1,2) using femtosecond X-ray sources(3). Here we extend the attosecond techniques(4,5) previously used to study isolated atoms in the gas phase to observe electron motion in condensed-matter systems and on surfaces in real time. We demonstrate our ability to obtain direct time-domain access to charge dynamics with attosecond resolution by probing photoelectron emission from single-crystal tungsten. Our data reveal a delay of approximately 100 attoseconds between the emission of photoelectrons that originate from localized core states of the metal, and those that are freed from delocalized conduction-band states. These results illustrate that attosecond metrology constitutes a powerful tool for exploring not only gas-phase systems, but also fundamental electronic processes occurring on the attosecond timescale in condensed-matter systems and on surfaces.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available