Multi-photon electron emission with non-classical light

Photon number distributions from classical and non-classical light sources have been studied extensively, yet their impact on photoemission processes is largely unexplored. In this article, we present measurements of electron number-distributions from metal needle tips illuminated with ultrashort light pulses of different photon quantum statistics. By varying the photon statistics of the exciting light field between classical (Poissonian) and quantum (super-Poissonian), we demonstrate that the measured electron distributions are changed substantially. Using single-mode bright squeezed vacuum light, we measure extreme statistics events with up to 65 electrons from one light pulse at a mean of 0.27 electrons per pulse - the likelihood for such an event equals 10^-128 with Poissonian statistics. Changing the number of modes of the exciting bright squeezed vacuum light, we can tailor the electron-number distribution on demand. Most importantly, our results demonstrate that the photon statistics is imprinted from the driving light to the emitted electrons, opening the door to new sensor devices and to strong-field quantum optics with quantum light.

Jonas Heimerl, Alexander Mikhaylov, Stefan Meier, Henrick Höllerer, Ido Kaminer, Maria Chekhova, Peter Hommelhoff