Subadditive femtosecond laser-induced electron emission from a GaAs tip

Multiphoton emission of electrons has been observed from sharp tips of heavily p-doped GaAs caused by laser pulses with, nominally, 800-nm wavelength, 1-nJ/pulse energy, and 90-fs duration. The emission is mostly due to four-photon processes, with some contribution from three-photon absorption as well. When the electron emission current due to two pulses separated by delay 2000.28em0exfs≤τ≤10.28em0exns is integrated over all electron energies, it is less than that observed for the sum of the emission from the two individual pulses. This subadditive behavior is consistent with a fast electron emission process, i.e., one in which the electron emission occurs over a time comparable to the laser pulse width. The subadditivity results from Pauli blocking of electron emission by the second pulse due to a population increase of the GaAs conduction band caused by the first pulse. Such subadditive photoemission is a sensitive probe of excited-carrier dynamics. We employ the use of an excited-level population model to characterize the photon absorption process and give us a clearer understanding of the electron dynamics in GaAs associated with multiphoton electron emission. Possible applications of this subadditivity effect to control photoemitted electron spin are discussed.