Eur. Phys. J. D (2014) 68: 172
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-50060-4

Regular Article

Coherent XUV generation driven by sharp metal tips photoemission^*

¹ Department of Physics, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA
² Centro de Láseres Pulsados (CLPU), Parque Científico, 37185 Villamayor, Salamanca, Spain
³ CEA-Saclay, IRAMIS, Service des Photons, Atomes et Molécules, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁴ ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, Mediterranean Technology Park, 08860 Castelldefels ( Barcelona), Spain
⁵ ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Lluis Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain

^a Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
^b e-mail: marcelo.ciappina@mpq.mpg.de

Received: 21 January 2014
Received in final form: 15 March 2014
Published online: 27 June 2014

Abstract

It was already experimentally demonstrated that high-energy electrons can be generated using metal nanotips as active non-linear media. In addition, it has been theoretically proven that the high-energy tail of the photoemitted electrons is intrinsically linked to the so-called recollision phenomenon. Through this recollision process it is also possible to convert the energy gained by the laser-emitted electron in the continuum in a coherent XUV photon. This means the emission of harmonic radiation appears to be feasible, although it has not been experimentally demonstrated hitherto. In this paper, we employ a quantum mechanical approach to model the electron dipole moment including both the laser experimental conditions and the bulk matter properties in order to predict it is possible to generate coherent UV and XUV radiation using metal nanotips as sources. Our quantum mechanical results are fully supported by their classical counterparts.