All-optical probe of three-dimensional topological insulators based on high-harmonic generation by circularly-polarized laser fields

Abstract

We report the observation of a novel nonlinear optical response from the prototypical three-dimensional topological insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ through the process of high-order harmonic generation. We find that the generation efficiency increases as the laser polarization is changed from linear to elliptical, and it becomes maximum for circular polarization. With the aid of a microscopic theory and a detailed analysis of the measured spectra, we reveal that such anomalous enhancement encodes the characteristic topology of the band structure that originates from the interplay of strong spin-orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry protection. Our study reveals a new platform for chiral strong-field physics and presents a novel, contact-free, all-optical approach for the spectroscopy of topological insulators. The implications are in ultrafast probing of topological phase transitions, light-field driven dissipationless electronics, and quantum computation.

21 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (16)

• The Role of Shift Vector in High-Harmonic Generation from Non-Centrosymmetric Topological Insulators under Strong Laser Fields
• High harmonic spectroscopy of quantum phase transitions in a high-T${}_c$ superconductor
• Floquet engineering of strongly-driven excitons in monolayer tungsten disulfide
• Attosecond magnetization dynamics in non-magnetic materials driven by intense femtosecond lasers
• High-harmonic spectroscopy of light-driven nonlinear anisotropic anomalous Hall effect in a Weyl semimetal
• Characterizing Anomalous High-Harmonic Generation in Solids
• Ab-initio cluster approach for high-harmonic generation in liquids
• Attosecond metrology in circular polarization
• Doping and gap-size dependence of high-harmonic generation in graphene : Importance of consistent formulation of light-matter coupling
• Engineering Floquet topological phases using elliptically polarized light
• Quantum optics measurement scheme for quantum geometry and topological invariants
• Topological edge-state contributions to high-order harmonic generation in finite flakes
• Influence of chirp and carrier-envelope phase on non-integer high-harmonic generation
• Floquet topological phases on a honeycomb lattice using elliptically polarized light
• Time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of strong-field light-dressed solids: prevalence of the adiabatic band picture
• Probing phonon dynamics with multi-dimensional high harmonic carrier envelope phase spectroscopy