Optical-field-induced current in dielectrics

The time it takes to switch on and off electric current determines the rate at which signals can be processed and sampled in modern information technology(1-4). Field-effect transistors(1-3,5,6) are able to control currents at frequencies of the order of or higher than 100 gigahertz, but electric interconnects may hamper progress towards reaching the terahertz (10(12) hertz) range. All-optical injection of currents through interfering photoexcitation pathways(7-10) or photoconductive switching of terahertz transients(11-16) has made it possible to control electric current on a subpicosecond time-scale in semiconductors. Insulators have been deemed unsuitable for both methods, because of the need for either ultraviolet light or strong fields, which induce slow damage or ultrafast break-down(17-20), respectively. Here we report the feasibility of electric signal manipulation in a dielectric. A few-cycle optical waveform reversibly increases-free from breakdown-the a.c. conductivity of amorphous silicon dioxide (fused silica) by more than 18 orders of magnitude within 1 femtosecond, allowing electric currents to be driven, directed and switched by the instantaneous light field. Our work opens the way to extending electronic signal processing and high-speed metrology into the petahertz (10(15) hertz) domain.