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Plasmon-enhanced high-harmonic generation from silicon

Nature Physics volume 13, pages 659–662 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Plasmonic antennas can enhance the intensity of a nanojoule laser pulse by localizing the electric field in their proximity1. It has been proposed that the field can become strong enough to convert the fundamental laser frequency into high-order harmonics through an extremely nonlinear interaction with gas atoms that occupy the nanoscopic volume surrounding the antennas2,3,4. However, the small number of gas atoms that can occupy this volume limits the generation of high harmonics5,6,7. Here we use an array of monopole nano-antennas to demonstrate plasmon-assisted high-harmonic generation directly from the supporting crystalline silicon substrate. The high density of the substrate compared with a gas allows macroscopic buildup of harmonic emission. Despite the sparse coverage of antennas on the surface, harmonic emission is ten times brighter than without antennas. Imaging the high-harmonic radiation will allow nanometre and attosecond measurement of the plasmonic field8 thereby enabling more sensitive plasmon sensors9 while opening a new path to extreme-ultraviolet-frequency combs10.

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Figure 1: Experimental setup.
Figure 2: Non-perturbative high-harmonic spectrum.
Figure 3: Imaging high-harmonic emission.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Crane and B. Avery for technical support. G.V. thanks M. Sivis for insightful discussions. This material is based on work supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550-16-1-0109 and the AFOSR MURI grant number FA9550-15-1-0037. The authors also acknowledge financial support from the NRC, NSERC and CFI/ORF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada

    G. Vampa, B. G. Ghamsari, S. Siadat Mousavi, T. J. Hammond, A. Olivieri, E. Lisicka-Skrek, P. Berini & P. B. Corkum

  2. PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA

    G. Vampa

  3. National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada

    B. G. Ghamsari, A. Yu Naumov, D. M. Villeneuve, A. Staudte & P. B. Corkum

Authors
  1. G. Vampa
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  2. B. G. Ghamsari
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  3. S. Siadat Mousavi
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  5. A. Olivieri
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  6. E. Lisicka-Skrek
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  7. A. Yu Naumov
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  8. D. M. Villeneuve
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  10. P. Berini
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  11. P. B. Corkum
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Contributions

G.V. and P.B.C. conceived the experiment; G.V. and T.J.H. performed the high-harmonic measurements; B.G.G. and S.S.M. designed the nano-antennas; B.G.G., A.O. and E.L.-S. fabricated the antennas; A.S. and A.Y.N. maintained the laser source; D.M.V., P.B.C. and P.B. supervised the experiment; all authors contributed to the manuscript.

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Correspondence to G. Vampa or P. B. Corkum.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Vampa, G., Ghamsari, B., Siadat Mousavi, S. et al. Plasmon-enhanced high-harmonic generation from silicon. Nature Phys 13, 659–662 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4087

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