Ultrafast electronic response of graphene to a strong and localized electric field

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13948
• Publication Date: 2016-12-21T10:18:13Z
• Authors: Elisabeth Gruber; Richard A. Wilhelm; Rémi Pétuya; Valerie Smejkal; Roland Kozubek; Anke Hierzenberger; Bernhard C. Bayer; Iñigo Aldazabal; Andrey K. Kazansky; Florian Libisch; Arkady V. Krashen...; Marika Schleberger; Stefan Facsko; Andrei G. Borisov; Andrés Arnau; Friedrich Aumayr
• Keywords: Charge carrier

Abstract The way conduction electrons respond to ultrafast external perturbations in low dimensional materials is at the core of design future devices for (opto)electronics, photodetection and spintronics. Highly charged ions provide a tool probing electronic response solids extremely strong electric fields localized down nanometre-sized areas. With ion transmission times order femtoseconds, we can directly probe local dynamics an ultrathin foil on this timescale. Here report ability freestanding single layer graphene tens charge neutralization slow highly within few femtoseconds. values higher than 10 12 A cm −2 , resulting current density exceeds previously measured breakdown currents by three orders magnitude. Surprisingly, passing does not tear holes into graphene. We use time-dependent functional theory gain insight multielectron dynamics.