{
  "abstract": "Silicon-based technology has been at the forefront of electronic and photonic research since the dawn of the electronic revolution. However, silicon is fundamentally an indirect-bandgap semiconductor: the conduction band minimum and valence band maximum occur at different points in momentum space, so optical transitions require phonon assistance to conserve crystal momentum. This three-body electron-photon-phonon interaction renders silicon an inefficient material for light-absorbing applications such as solar cells and optoelectronic devices. In this work, we build on an established nanoscale photon-momentum confinement mechanism, which broadens the photon momentum distribution and enables phonon-free absorption in silicon, by subsequently applying a high-intensity femtosecond pulsed excitation that injects hot carriers beyond the Mott density, collapsing the bandgap and inducing a reversible semiconductor-to-metal transition. While nanoscale photon-momentum confinement itself has been previously established, the central contribution of this work is this subsequent, carrier density-driven stage, which drives the momentum-enhanced region into a reversible transient metallic phase. Our simulations report highly negative permittivity, enhanced optical power absorption, a large absorption coefficient, and low skin depth, with carrier densities reaching a notable value, far exceeding the Mott threshold. We have shown carrier driven metallization with stable operation below melting threshold of silicon. These results establish a general mechanism for dynamically inducing metallic states in silicon, offering a potential pathway toward monolithically integrated active photonic components and dynamically reconfigurable electro-optical devices within conventional CMOS platforms.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2608.21527",
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Ehatasham Haque"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sunjana Tarannum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jannatul Shahrin Shoshi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mahdy Rahman Chowdhury"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/attap5qp3h709.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2608.21527",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "attap5qp3h709",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.21527",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.optics"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3107|Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7204195760",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.21527",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-18",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/attap5qp3h709.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:03Z",
      "native_id": "2608.21527",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.21527"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Femtosecond Laser Induced Metallization in Silicon via Photon Momentum Mediated Band Transition",
  "title_text": "Femtosecond Laser Induced Metallization in Silicon via Photon Momentum Mediated Band Transition",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:03Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/attap5qp3h709",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}