Open AccessWaveform control of currents in graphene by chirped few-cycle lasers
Author(s) -
Erheng Wu,
Chaojin Zhang,
Zhanshan Wang,
Chengpu Liu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
new journal of physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.584
H-Index - 190
ISSN - 1367-2630
DOI - 10.1088/1367-2630/ab74aa
Subject(s) - physics , chirp , laser , ultrashort pulse , graphene , pulse (music) , waveform , optics , optoelectronics , quantum mechanics , voltage , detector
The residual current density in monolayer graphene driven by an intense few-cycle chirped laser pulse is investigated via numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in the light-field-driven regime. Strikingly, it is found that a purely chirped laser pulse breaks the inversion symmetry in graphene, generating a residual directional current, which is absent for a Fourier-transform limited pulse (2017 Nature 550 224) and is attributed to the chirp-dependent Landau–Zener–Stückelberg interference among different quantum pathways in the reciprocal space. Moreover, the directionality of such a current changes with laser chirp rate following a sine-functional way, which possibly provides a novel application in ultrafast photo-electronics based on two-dimensional materials.