Finite-temperature Green's function theory of terahertz-induced phonon angular momentum in polar crystals

Abstract

We develop a self-energy-dressed Green's-function framework for terahertz-induced phonon angular momentum in polar crystals. The rectified angular-momentum response is formulated as a second-order response and, within a dressed-bubble approximation, is expressed in terms of retarded phonon propagators weighted by mode-resolved polarization and angular-momentum matrix elements. Anharmonic self-energies enter through the dressed propagators, incorporating finite-temperature frequency renormalization and linewidth broadening directly into the response kernel. Applying this framework to wurtzite GaN, we show that the terahertz propagation direction and polarization select distinct rotational phonon channels: a nondegenerate ${\mathrm{E}}_1(\mathrm{TO})$--${\mathrm{A}}_1(\mathrm{TO})$ channel with phase- and frequency-tunable angular momentum, and a degenerate ${\mathrm{E}}_1(\mathrm{TO})$ channel with helicity-selected response. Anharmonic broadening suppresses and smooths the resonant structures while preserving the characteristic phase dependence of each channel. An order-of-magnitude estimate based on the phonon inverse Faraday-effect framework gives an mT-scale effective magnetic field for representative electron--phonon coupling strengths. This work places coherent terahertz-driven circular-phonon physics in a first-principles-based response framework and provides a starting point for going beyond constant-damping driven-mode descriptions.