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  • Technical Review
  • Published:

Light–matter interaction at atomic scales

Nature Reviews Physics volume 3, pages 441–453 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Light–matter interaction drives many systems, such as optoelectronic devices like light-emitting diodes and solar cells, biological structures like photosystem II and potential future quantum devices. The absorption or emission of light typically occurs on the sub-nanometre scale and the involved processes take place on attosecond to picosecond timescales. Light–matter interaction can be studied at atomic space-time scales by using a scanning tunnelling microscope and coupling light into or extracting light from the tunnel junction. Electromagnetic radiation couples with matter through the interaction with charge carriers, leading to excitations such as electronic transitions, collective oscillations, excitons and spin flips. These excitations can be studied with high spatial and temporal resolution using approaches in which light interacts with the tunnel junction itself or with a quantum system in the junction. This Review discusses the powerful union of photonics and scanning probe techniques.

Key points

  • How light interacts with atoms, molecules and nanostructures is explored by combining photonics with scanning probe microscopy. The scanning tunnelling microscope enables picometre spatial resolution and ultrafast light pulses allow attosecond time resolution.

  • Many systems can be studied using this approach, such as single atoms on surfaces, atomic defects, organic molecules and molecular assemblies/polymers, quantum dots and other inorganic nanostructures.

  • The tunnel junction, the (tunnelling) electrons and the entity located between tip and surface — atom, molecule or nanostructure — can either absorb the incident light or emit light as a result of inelastic tunnelling.

  • These different interaction schemes are deliberately exploited to investigate properties such as molecular vibrations, charge carrier dynamics, correlation in light emission from single molecules and electron spin resonances.

  • The diffraction limit in optical microscopy, usually limiting spatial resolution in photonics, can be overcome by the drastic enhancement of the electric field of the light wave at the apex of the tip.

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Fig. 1: Light–matter interaction at atomic scales.
Fig. 2: Ultrafast photon-driven or field-driven electron tunnelling and coherent control of electrons.
Fig. 3: Electron-tunnelling-induced light emission from the tunnel junction of a STM.
Fig. 4: Spectromicroscopy at atomic spatial scales.
Fig. 5: ESR on single atoms.
Fig. 6: Dynamic Coulomb blockade.

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Acknowledgements

C.R.A. acknowledges financial support through the ERC Consolidator Grant AbsoluteSpin (grant no. 681164).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany

    Rico Gutzler, Manish Garg, Christian R. Ast, Klaus Kuhnke & Klaus Kern

  2. Institut de Physique, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Klaus Kern

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  1. Rico Gutzler
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  2. Manish Garg
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Gutzler, R., Garg, M., Ast, C.R. et al. Light–matter interaction at atomic scales. Nat Rev Phys 3, 441–453 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-021-00306-5

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