Ultrafast electronic dynamics of solid-state materials, particularly under light excitation, are of great interests both fundamentally and practically due to the wide applications of optoelectronic devices, such as transistors, photovoltaics, or photodetectors. With the ability to control electronic dynamics in solids on attosecond time scales, the development of lightwave electronics holds promise for realizing ultrafast signal processing devices at frequencies up to the petahertz regime, surpassing current technology by orders of magnitude.

The development of light-driven petahertz electronics is inherently connected to solid state nanophysics. First, the natural length scale of electron motion on the few attosecond time scale is on the order of one nanometer. Second, for the development of petahertz integrated circuits, the devices have to be both on nanometer length scales and be based on non-resistive processes, such as ballistic electron transport. Nanomaterials or nanostructured solids thus play a crucial role in the development of future on-chip petahertz electronics devices.

The talk will give a broader introduction into this field and summarize a few recent results from our group. A perspective will be given on the next steps towards the implementation of petahertz signal processing.