Revisiting the Photon-Drag Effect in Gold Films

ORAL

Abstract

The photon-drag effect, the rectified current in a medium induced by conservation of momentum of absorbed or redirected light, is a unique probe of the detailed mechanisms underlying radiation pressure. We revisit this effect in gold, a canonical Drude metal for infrared frequencies. We discover that the signal for p-polarized illumination in ambient air is affected in both sign and magnitude by adsorbed molecules, opening previous measurements for reinterpretation. Further, we show that the intrinsic sign of the photon-drag effect is contrary to the prevailing intuitive model of direct momentum transfer to free electrons.

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Presenters

  • Jared H Strait

    Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Authors

  • Jared H Strait

    Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Glenn Holland

    Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Wenqi Zhu

    Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Cheng Zhang

    Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Amit Agrawal

    Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Domenico Pacifici

    School of Engineering and Department of Physics, Brown University

  • Henri J Lezec

    Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology