Nanoplasmonic Photoelectron Rescattering in the Multiphoton-Induced Emission Regime.

In strong-field laser-matter interactions, energetic electrons can be created by photoemission and a subsequent rescattering and can attain energy as much as 10 times the ponderomotive potential (U_{p}) of the laser field. Here, we show that with the unique combination of infrared laser sources (exploiting the quadratic scaling of U_{p}) and plasmonic nanoemitters (which enhance rescattering probability by orders of magnitude) ∼10U_{p} rescattered electrons can be observed in the multiphoton-induced regime. Our experiments correspond well to a model based on the time dependent Schrödinger equation and allowed us to reveal an unexpected aspect of ultrafast electron dynamics in the multiphoton emission regime.

Nonadiabatic Nano-optical Tunneling of Photoelectrons in Plasmonic Near-Fields.

Nonadiabatic nano-optical electron tunneling in the transition region between multiphoton-induced emission and adiabatic tunnel emission is explored in the near-field of plasmonic nanostructures. For Keldysh γ values between ∼1.3 and ∼2.2, measured photoemission spectra show strong-field recollision driven by the nanoscale near-field. At the same time, the photoemission yield shows an intensity scaling with a constant nonlinearity, which is characteristic for multiphoton-induced emission. Our observations in this transition region were well reproduced with the numerical solution of Schrödinger's equation, mimicking the nanoscale geometry of the field. This way, we determined the boundaries and nature of nonadiabatic tunneling photoemission, building on a key advantage of a nanoplasmonic system, namely, that high-field-driven recollision events and their signature in the photoemission spectrum can be observed more efficiently due to significant nanoplasmonic field enhancement factors.