Attosecond-fast internal photoemission

The photoelectric effect has a sister process relevant in optoelectronics called internal photoemission. Here an electron is photoemitted from a metal into a semiconductor. While the photoelectric effect takes place within less than 100 attoseconds, the attosecond time scale has so far not been measured for internal photoemission. Based on the new method CHArge transfer time MEasurement via Laser pulse duration-dependent saturation fluEnce determinatiON, CHAMELEON, we show that the atomically thin semi-metal graphene coupled to bulk silicon carbide, forming a Schottky junction, allows charge transfer times as fast as (300 $\pm$ 200) attoseconds. These results are supported by a simple quantum mechanical model simulation. With the obtained cut-off bandwidth of 3.3 PHz for the charge transfer rate, this semimetal-semiconductor interface represents the first functional solid-state interface offering the speed and design space required for future light-wave signal processing.

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