Plasmascopy of ultrafast hot charges in solids
Abstract
We demonstrate an electric field-resolved approach for probing ultrafast dynamics of photoinjected charges in solids. Direct access to the electric field of few-cycle pulses enables us to measure a broadband response of a medium with associated plasma frequency. We prepare an ensemble of photoinjected hot charge carriers with energies sufficient to trigger impact ionization and establish a framework to measure its dynamics. Our study reveals the first time-resolved observation of the short-lived ultrafast impact ionization in germanium counteracted by trapping of mobile charges at later times. This approach provides a promising route for studying ultrafast many-body physics in photoexcited solids, with predictions from advanced theoretical models.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.05582,
title = {Plasmascopy of ultrafast hot charges in solids},
author = {Dmitry A. Zimin and Raja Sen and Muhammad Qasim and Jelena Sjakste and Vladislav S. Yakovlev},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.05582},
year = {2025}
}