Cross-process interference in single-cycle electron emission from metal needle tips

Though interference from different emission channels enabled a deeper understanding of strong-field photoemission in atoms and molecules, it remained out of reach for solids. Here, we explore metal needle tips under single-cycle pulses via classical trajectories extended by quantum diffusion and interference and numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We find interference of direct and backscattered electrons with fringe pattern encoding sub-cycle information on birth times and near-field driven acceleration dynamics, opening routes for ultrafast solid-state metrology.