Quantum efficiency of photoemission from biased metal surfaces with laser wavelengths from UV to NIR

Abstract

This paper studies photoelectron emission from metal surfaces with laser wavelengths from 200 to 1200 nm (i.e., ultraviolet to near-infrared), using a recent quantum model based on the exact solution of time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The dominant electron emission mechanism varies from different multiphoton emission processes to dc or optical field emission, depending on the laser intensity, wavelength, and dc bias field. The parametric dependence of the quantum efficiency (QE) is analyzed in detail. It is found that QE can be increased nonlinearly by the non-equilibrium electron heating produced by intense sub-picosecond laser pulses. This increase of QE due to laser heating is the strongest near laser wavelengths where the cathode work function is an integer multiple of the corresponding laser photon energy. The quantum model, with laser heating effects included, reproduces previous experimental results, which further validates our quantum model and the importance of laser heating.