Laser-driven electron transfer through metal-insulator-metal contacts: Time-dependent configuration interaction singles calculations for a jellium model

In this paper we report time-dependent configuration interaction singles calculations modeling the laser-induced current through a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) contact. We compare our results to recent experiments [D. Diesing, M. Merschdorf, A. Thon, and W. Pfeiffer, Appl. Phys. B (to be published)]. We use two jellium slabs separated by a vacuum region in a one-dimensional model to describe the MIM contact. The contact is coupled to ultrashort (fs) laser pulses by the semiclassical dipole approximation. We discuss simulated two-pulse correlation spectra in comparison to experimental results.