Electron Emission from Metal Surfaces by Ultrashort Pulses: Determination of the Carrier-Envelope Phase

The phase φ of the field oscillations with respect to the peak of a laser pulse influences the light field evolution as the pulse length becomes comparable to the wave cycle and, hence, affects the interaction of intense few-cycle pulses with matter. We theoretically investigate photoelectron emission induced by an intense, few-cycle laser pulse from a metal surface (jellium) within the framework of time-dependent density functional theory and find a pronounced φ dependence of the photocurrent. Our results reveal a promising route to measuring φ of few-cycle light pulses (τ<6   fs at λ=0.8   μm) at moderate intensity levels (I_p≈10¹²   W/cm²) using a solid-state device.