近日，德国埃尔朗根-纽伦堡大学的Peter Hommelhoff&Jonas Heimerl及其研究团队取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力，他们对非经典光的多光子电子发射过程进行研究。相关研究成果已于2024年4月9日在国际知名学术期刊《自然—物理学》上发表。

本文中，研究人员深入探究了金属针尖在受到不同光子量子统计特性的超短光脉冲照射时，电子数分布的变化。通过灵活调整激发光场的光子统计，从经典的泊松分布到量子的超泊松分布，研究人员发现电子分布发生了显著的变化。

值得一提的是，当采用单模明亮的压缩真空光时，他们成功测量到一个光脉冲产生高达65个电子的极端统计事件，尽管平均每个脉冲仅产生0.27个电子，这种事件的出现概率在泊松统计下仅为10^-128。最重要的是，这项研究结果表明，光子统计数据从驱动光印迹到发射电子，为新的传感器设备和量子光和电子强场光学打开了大门。

据悉，经典光源和非经典光源的光子数分布已经得到了广泛的研究，但它们对光发射过程的影响在很大程度上尚未被探索。

附：英文原文

Title: Multiphoton electron emission with non-classical light

Author: Heimerl, Jonas, Mikhaylov, Alexander, Meier, Stefan, Hllerer, Henrick, Kaminer, Ido, Chekhova, Maria, Hommelhoff, Peter

Issue&Volume: 2024-04-09

Abstract: Photon number distributions of classical and non-classical light sources have been studied extensively, yet their impact on photoemission processes is largely unexplored. In this article, we present measurements of electron number distributions from metal needle tips illuminated with ultrashort light pulses with various photon quantum statistics. By varying the photon statistics of the exciting light field between classical (Poissonian) and quantum (super-Poissonian), we demonstrate that the measured electron distributions are changed substantially. Using single-mode bright squeezed vacuum light, we measure extreme statistics events with up to 65 electrons from one light pulse at a mean of 0.27 electrons per pulse—the likelihood for such an event equals 10^-128 with Poissonian statistics. By changing the number of modes of the exciting bright squeezed vacuum, we can tailor the electron number distribution on demand. Most importantly, our results demonstrate that the photon statistics is imprinted from the driving light to the emitted electrons, opening the door to new sensor devices and to strong-field optics with quantum light and electrons.

DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02472-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-024-02472-6