Spotlight Publication: “Signatures of atomic structure in subfemtosecond laser-driven electron dynamics in nanogaps” published in Physical Review B
About the author: Luke Bhan is currently an undergraduate computer science and physics major working under the supervision of Dr. Kalman Varga. His lab focuses on the simulation of nanoscale materials and their properties. In recently published work, he simulates electron dynamics across nanoscale gaps in aluminum structures containing thousands of atoms. From the simulations, electron fringes are present indicating interference patterns in both the current and density. Additionally, different nano gap configurations reveal various properties about the system including the total field enhancement and electron flux. This work is the first to explore the different properties of these nanoscale aluminum structures while considering both the quantum and electromagnetic interactions.