Sculpted light steers ultrafast electron flow in an atomic-scale microscope

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1148815

Summary: Shaping dual-color infrared laser pulses inside a scanning tunneling microscope junction controls directional attosecond electron tunneling currents across atomic gaps. Phase-tailored optical fields drive localized electron bursts lasting just 860 attoseconds without inducing thermal degradation at the needle tip. Direct optical control of electron movement enables attosecond-resolution spatio-temporal probing of molecular electronic states.