Electron emission from metal surfaces by ultrashort pulses:: Determination of the carrier-envelope phase -: art. no. 076403

The phase Phi of the field oscillations with respect to the peak of a laser pulse influences the light field evolution as the pulse length becomes comparable to the wave cycle and, hence, affects the interaction of intense few-cycle pulses with matter. We theoretically investigate photoelectron emission induced by an intense, few-cycle laser pulse from a metal surface (jellium) within the framework of time-dependent density functional theory and find a pronounced Phi dependence of the photocurrent. Our results reveal a promising route to measuring Phi of few-cycle light pulses (tau<6 fs at lambda=0.8 mum) at moderate intensity levels (I(p)approximate to10(12) W/cm(2)) using a solid-state device.