Date of Award

Spring 3-7-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics

First Advisor

Margaret Murnane

Second Advisor

Henry Kapteyn

Third Advisor

Dan Dessau

Fourth Advisor

Xiaobo Yin

Fifth Advisor

Mark Keller

Abstract

Knowing the electronic states of materials and how electrons behave in time is essential to understanding a wide range of physical processes, from surface catalysis and photochemistry to practical electrical behavior of devices. Combining Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) with short wavelength high-harmonics to drive the photoemission process, allows for the direct probing of a wide range of electronic states and momenta within a material. Furthermore, in a pump-probe approach, electron dynamics can be probed by mapping the response of a system at specific instances after an excitation. I present results from three studies utilizing time-resolved ARPES, spanning the conventional" approach of mapping electron/hole dynamics of a material after an excitation - to more exotic experimental schemes that probe fundamental electronic properties via interferometric attosecond electron spectroscopy and band-bending at semiconductor interfaces. In addition to providing information on the fundamental behavior of charge carriers and electronic states in condensed matter, such studies illustrate the versatility of the high harmonic time-resolved ARPES technique, and demonstrate the potential of this technique to be extended with new experimental high-resolution and circular-polarization capabilities.

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