Detection of the anomalous velocity with sub-picosecond time resolution in semiconductor nanostructures

Abstract

We report on the time-resolved detection of the anomalous velocity, constituting charge carriers moving perpendicular to an electric driving field, in undoped GaAs quantum wells. For this we optically excite the quantum wells with circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses, thereby creating a state which breaks time-inversion symmetry. We then employ a quasi single cycle terahertz pulse as electric driving field to induce the anomalous velocity. The electromagnetic radiation emitted from the anomalous velocity is studied with a sub-picosecond time resolution and reveals intriguing results. We are able to distinguish between intrinsic (linked to the Berry curvature) and extrinsic (linked to scattering) contributions to the anomalous velocity both originating from the valence band and observe local energy space dependence of the anomalous velocity. Our results thus constitute a significant step towards non-invasive probing of the anomalous velocity locally in the full energy/momentum space and enable the investigation of many popular physical effects such as anomalous Hall effect and spin Hall effect on ultrafast time scales.

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• Microscopic analysis of high harmonic generation in semiconductors with degenerate bands
• Disentangling the Competing Mechanisms of Light-Induced Anomalous Hall Conductivity in Three-Dimensional Dirac Semimetal
• Observation of Terahertz Spin Hall Conductivity Spectrum in GaAs with Optical Spin Injection
• Ultrafast magneto-photocurrents as probe of anisotropy relaxation in GaAs
• Light-induced inverse spin Hall effect and field-induced circular photogalvanic effect in GaAs revealed by two-dimensional terahertz Fourier analysis
• Unified theory of the photovoltaic Hall effect by field- and light-induced Berry curvatures