Attosecond science is based on steering electrons with the electric field of well controlled femtosecond laser pulses. It has led to the generation of extreme-ultraviolet pulses with a duration of less than 100 attoseconds (ref. 3; 1 as = 10(-18) s), to the measurement of intramolecular dynamics (by diffraction of an electron taken from the molecule under scrutiny) and to ultrafast electron holography. All these effects have been observed with atoms or molecules in the gas phase. Electrons liberated from solids by few-cycle laser pulses are also predicted to show a strong light-phase sensitivity, but only very small effects have been observed. Here we report that the spectra of electrons undergoing photoemission from a nanometre-scale tungsten tip show a dependence on the carrier-envelope phase of the laser, with a current modulation of up to 100 per cent. Depending on the carrier-envelope phase, electrons are emitted either from a single sub-500-attosecond interval of the 6-femtosecond laser pulse, or from two such intervals; the latter case leads to spectral interference. We also show that coherent elastic re-scattering of liberated electrons takes place at the metal surface. Owing to field enhancement at the tip, a simple laser oscillator reaches the peak electric field strengths required for attosecond experiments at 100-megahertz repetition rates, rendering complex amplified laser systems dispensable. Practically, this work represents a simple, extremely sensitive carrier-envelope phase sensor, which could be shrunk in volume to about one cubic centimetre. Our results indicate that the attosecond techniques developed with (and for) atoms and molecules can also be used with solids. In particular, we foresee subfemtosecond, subnanometre probing of collective electron dynamics (such as plasmon polaritons) in solid-state systems ranging in scale from mesoscopic solids to clusters and to single protruding atoms.

Although Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms have been experimentally realizable for several years, their formation and manipulation still impose considerable technical challenges. An all-optical technique that enables faster production of Bose-Einstein condensates was recently reported. Here we demonstrate that the formation of a condensate can be greatly simplified using a microscopic magnetic trap on a chip. We achieve Bose-Einstein condensation inside the single vapour cell of a magneto-optical trap in as little as 700 ms-more than a factor of ten faster than typical experiments, and a factor of three faster than the all-optical technique. A coherent matter wave is emitted normal to the chip surface when the trapped atoms are released into free fall; alternatively, we couple the condensate into an 'atomic conveyor belt', which is used to transport the condensed cloud non-destructively over a macroscopic distance parallel to the chip surface. The possibility of manipulating laser-like coherent matter waves with such an integrated atom-optical system holds promise for applications in interferometry, holography, microscopy, atom lithography and quantum information processing.

We report a source of free electron pulses based on a field emission tip irradiated by a low-power femtosecond laser. The electron pulses are shorter than 70 fs and originate from a tip with an emission area diameter down to 2 nm. Depending on the operating regime we observe either photofield emission or optical field emission with up to 200 electrons per pulse at a repetition rate of 1 GHz. This pulsed electron emitter, triggered by a femtosecond oscillator, could serve as an efficient source for time-resolved electron interferometry, for time-resolved nanometric imaging and for synchrotrons.

Ultrafast electron dynamics in solids under strong optical fields has recently found particular attention [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] .In dielectrics and semiconductors, various light-field-driven effects have been explored, such as high-harmonic generation 1-4 , sub-optical-cycle interband population transfer 5,6 and nonperturbative increase of transient polarizability 7 . In contrast, much less is known about field-driven electron dynamics in metals because charge carriers screen an external electric field in ordinary metals 7,8,10 . Here we show that atomically thin monolayer Graphene offers unique opportunities to study light-field-driven processes in a metal. With a comparably modest field strength of up to 0.3 V/Å, we drive combined interband and intraband electron dynamics, leading to a light-fieldwaveform controlled residual conduction current after the laser pulse is gone. We identify the underlying pivotal physical mechanism as electron quantum-path interference taking place on the 1-femtosecond (10 −15 second) timescale. The process can be categorized as Landau-ZenerStückelberg interferometry 11 . These fully coherent electron dynamics in graphene take place on a hitherto unexplored timescale faster than electron-electron scattering (tens of femtoseconds) and electron-phonon scattering (hundreds of femtoseconds) 12-15 . These results broaden the scope of light-field control of electrons in solids to an entirely new and eminently important material class -metals -promising wide ramifications for band structure tomography 3,6 and light-fielddriven electronics 8 .Graphene is an ideal platform to extend the concept of light-field-driven current control to metals. Even though the metallic nature of graphene is reflected in its excellent carrier mobilities 16,17 , the carrier concentration is low compared with conventional metals and thus screening due to free carriers is negligible at optical frequencies 18 . Therefore, strong optical fields can be generated in graphene. In addition, graphene, in particular epitaxial graphene on SiC (0001), is one of the most robust materials available 17,19 , and can thus withstand high laser intensities. Moreover, the optical response of graphene is broadband and ultrafast 17 . Earlier photocurrent studies in graphene revealed that photocarriers are generated on an ultrashort timescale of tens of femtoseconds 12,13 , associated with efficient and fast carrier heating 14,15,20 . Still, the timescale of these experiments is limited by the duration of the laser pulse (envelope) because the photocarrier generation is driven by optical absorption, which is governed by the cycleaveraged light intensity.Here we show that a current induced in graphene by few-cycle laser pulses is sensitive to the electric-field waveform, i.e., the exact shape of the optical carrier field of the pulse, which is controlled by the carrier-envelope phase (Fig. 1a). As will be shown, the main mechanism of this waveform-dependent current generation is based on a large modulation of the interband coup...

We present an experimental and numerical study of electron emission from a sharp tungsten tip triggered by sub-8-fs low-power laser pulses. This process is nonlinear in the laser electric field, and the nonlinearity can be tuned via the dc voltage applied to the tip. Numerical simulations of this system show that electron emission takes place within less than one optical period of the exciting laser pulse, so that an 8 fs 800 nm laser pulse is capable of producing a single electron pulse of less than 1 fs duration. Furthermore, we find that the carrier-envelope phase dependence of the emission process is smaller than 0.1% for an 8 fs pulse but is steeply increasing with decreasing laser pulse duration.

We present energy-resolved measurements of electron emission from sharp metal tips driven with low energy pulses from a few-cycle laser oscillator. We observe above-threshold photoemission with a photon order of up to 9. At a laser intensity of ∼ 2 × 10(11)  W/cm2 the suppression of the lowest order peak occurs, indicating the onset of strong-field effects. We also observe peak shifting linearly with intensity, with a slope of around -1.0 eV/(10(12)  W/cm2). We attribute the magnitude of the laser field effects to field enhancement taking place at the tip's surface.

A proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating dielectric laser acceleration of non-relativistic electrons in the vicinity of a fused-silica grating is reported. The grating structure is utilized to generate an electromagnetic surface wave that travels synchronously with and efficiently imparts momentum on 28 keV electrons. We observe a maximum acceleration gradient of 25 MeV/m. We investigate in detail the parameter dependencies and find excellent agreement with numerical simulations. With the availability of compact and efficient fiber laser technology, these findings may pave the way towards an all-optical compact particle accelerator. This work also represents the demonstration of the inverse Smith-Purcell effect in the optical regime.The acceleration gradients of linear accelerators are limited by breakdown phenomena at the accelerating structures under the influence of large surface fields. Today's accelerators, which are based on metal structures driven by radio frequency fields, operate at acceleration gradients of ∼20-50 MeV/m. The upper limit in future radio frequency accelerators, such as the discussed CLIC and ILC, is ∼100 MeV/m, given by the damage threshold of the metal surfaces [1][2][3]. At optical frequencies dielectric materials withstand roughly two orders of magnitude larger field amplitudes than metals [4]. Together with the large optical field strength attainable with short laser pulses, dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs) hence may support acceleration gradients in the multi-GeV/m range [5]. With this technology lab-size accelerators, providing particle beams with energies currently only available at km-long facilities, seem feasible. Here we demonstrate the efficacy of the concept.Charged particle acceleration with oscillating fields requires an electromagnetic wave with a phase speed equal to the particle's velocity and an electric field component parallel to the particle's trajectory. So far, laserbased particle acceleration schemes employ the longitudinal electric field component of a plasma wave [6][7][8] or of a tightly focused laser beam [9], but in both schemes the accelerating mode has a phase velocity that does not match the speed of light. Therefore, relativistic particles can only be accelerated over short distances and the maximum attainable energies of these devices are limited. Exploiting the near-field of periodic structures, for example of optical gratings, offers the possibility to continuously accelerate non-relativistic as well as relativistic particles. In essence, the effect of the grating is to rectify the oscillating field in the frame co-moving with the electron, conceptually similar to conventional radio frequency devices. Single gratings can only be used to accelerate non-relativistic electrons, an effect also known as the inverse Smith-Purcell effect [10][11][12]. However, double grating structures, in which electrons propagate in a channel between two gratings facing each other, support a longitudinal, accelerating speed-of-light eigenmode that can be used to a...

Recently two emerging areas of research, attosecond and nanoscale physics, have started to come together. Attosecond physics deals with phenomena occurring when ultrashort laser pulses, with duration on the femto-and sub-femtosecond time scales, interact with atoms, molecules or solids. The laser-induced electron dynamics occurs natively on a timescale down to a few hundred or even tens of attoseconds (1 attosecond=1 as=10 −18 s), which is comparable with the optical field. For comparison, the revolution of an electron on a 1s orbital of a hydrogen atom is ∼ 152 as. On the other hand, the second branch involves the manipulation and engineering of mesoscopic systems, such as solids, metals and dielectrics, with nanometric precision. Although nano-engineering is a vast and well-established research field on its own, the merger with intense laser physics is relatively recent. In this report on progress we present a comprehensive experimental and theoretical overview of physics that takes place when short and intense laser pulses interact with nanosystems, such as metallic and dielectric nanostructures. In particular we elucidate how the spatially inhomogeneous laser induced fields at a nanometer scale modify the laser-driven electron dynamics. Consequently, this has important impact on pivotal processes such as above-threshold ionization and high-order harmonic generation. The deep understanding of the coupled dynamics between these spatially inhomogeneous fields and matter configures a promising way to new avenues of research and applications. Thanks to the maturity that attosecond physics has reached, together with the tremendous advance in material engineering and manipulation techniques, the age of atto-nano physics has begun, but it is in the initial stage. We present thus some of the open questions, challenges and prospects for experimental confirmation of theoretical predictions, as well as experiments aimed at characterizing the induced fields and the unique electron dynamics initiated by them with high temporal and spatial resolution.