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Metallization of Nanofilms in Strong Adiabatic Electric Fields

Source: Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 086803 (2010); doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.086803

Published 18 August 2010

PACS
  • 73.20.Mf
    Collective excitations (surface/interface states)
  • 77.22.Jp
    Dielectric breakdown and space-charge effects
  • 42.65.Re
    Ultrafast processes; optical pulse generation and pulse compression
  • 72.20.Ht
    High-field transport and nonlinear effects (semiconductors/insulators)
  • YEAR: 2010
PUBLICATION DATA
ISSN:
1553-9644 (online)
Publisher:
AIP is a member of CrossRef APS
Maxim Durach,1 Anastasia Rusina,1 Matthias F. Kling,2 and Mark I. Stockman1,2
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USA
2Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Straße 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
We introduce an effect of metallization of dielectric nanofilms by strong, adiabatically varying electric fields. The metallization causes optical properties of a dielectric film to become similar to those of a plasmonic metal (strong absorption and negative permittivity at low optical frequencies). This is a quantum effect, which is exponentially size-dependent, occurring at fields on the order of 0.1 V/Å and pulse durations ranging from ~1 fs to ~10 ns for a film thickness of 3–10 nm.
History: Received 28 April 2010; revised 21 July 2010; published 18 August 2010
Permalink: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v105/e086803
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