Abstract

We report the development of a theoretical model describing the strong field tunneling of electrons in an extremely small nanogap (having a width of a few nanometers) that is driven by terahertz-pulse irradiation, by modifying a conventional semiclassical model that is widely applied for near-infrared wavelengths. We demonstrate the effects of carrier-envelope phase difference and strength of the incident THz field on the tunneling current across the nanogap. Additionally, we show that the dc bias also contributes to the generation of tunneling current, but the nature of the contribution is completely different for different carrier-envelope phases.

© 2018 Optical Society of Korea

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