Laser-induced nonlinear response in photoassisted resonant electronic transport

Abstract

We consider an extension of our previous model for photoassisted electron transport in molecular and atomic junctions to the study of nonlinear processes, induced by a laser field, that are strongly influenced by a resonant level structure associated with the material structure between the two metal electrodes. Using a Floquet transformation to include the radiation field, we calculate the stationary Landauer current as a function of the intensity and frequency of the laser. The emphasis in this work is in the description of the interplay between the optical response of the junction and its transport properties. Our results may be then of importance in understanding the response of molecular junctions to multiphoton excitations, a regime where nonlinearities are dominant.