Nano Vacuum Channel Devices for Electronics and Ultrafast Nanophotonics

Abstract

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in nano vacuum channel (NVC) devices due to their low power requirements, radiation hardness, integrability, and ultrafast switching times. Planar NVC devices are ideal candidates for electronics that need to operate in harsh environments such as space. Moreover, recent work, some of which is discussed in this thesis, has demonstrated a rectified, field driven current response from planar NVCs that extends to petahertz-scale frequencies. Such petahertz electronic devices enable field-resolved measurements of ultrafast phenomena and the capability to decode information stored directly on the optical field waveform. In this thesis, state of the art nanotechnology techniques are leveraged to develop a reliable nanofabrication process to pattern planar NVC devices using metallic and refractory materials. Their emission properties in response to both electrical and optical fields are investigated through simulation and testing. Finally, their use for electronics and optoelectronics applications is demonstrated and discussed. In particular, this thesis focuses on their use for building NVC devices for radiation-resistant logic, and for the development of novel optical-field processing techniques such as field sampling to perform time-domain spectroscopy with attosecond resolution. The results from this thesis have direct application in many fields, from metrology to communication to information processing, and represent an important contribution for the development of radiation resistant and petahertz electronics.