Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Tunable non-integer high-harmonic generation in a topological insulator. / Schmid, C. P.; Weigl, L.; Grössing, P. et al.
In: Nature, Vol. 593, No. 7859, 20.05.2021, p. 385-390.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Tunable non-integer high-harmonic generation in a topological insulator
AU - Schmid, C. P.
AU - Weigl, L.
AU - Grössing, P.
AU - Junk, V.
AU - Gorini, C.
AU - Schlauderer, S.
AU - Ito, S.
AU - Meierhofer, M.
AU - Hofmann, N.
AU - Afanasiev, D.
AU - Crewse, J.
AU - Kokh, K. A.
AU - Tereshchenko, O. E.
AU - Güdde, J.
AU - Evers, F.
AU - Wilhelm, J.
AU - Richter, K.
AU - Höfer, U.
AU - Huber, R.
N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank P. Merkl, J. Freudenstein, C. Lange, D. E. Kim, M. Nitsch and I. Floss for helpful discussions. The work in Regensburg has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) through Project ID 422 314695032-SFB 1277 (Subprojects A03, A05 and A07) as well as project HU1598/8. Work in Marburg has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through Project ID 223848855-SFB 1083 and grant number GU 495/2. O.E.T. and K.A.K. have been supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project number 17-12-01047) and the state assignment of IGM SB RAS and ISP SB RAS. The work of J.C. was supported by the NSF (National Science Foundation) DMR-1828489. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/5/20
Y1 - 2021/5/20
N2 - When intense lightwaves accelerate electrons through a solid, the emerging high-order harmonic (HH) radiation offers key insights into the material1–11. Sub-optical-cycle dynamics—such as dynamical Bloch oscillations2–5, quasiparticle collisions6,12, valley pseudospin switching13 and heating of Dirac gases10—leave fingerprints in the HH spectra of conventional solids. Topologically non-trivial matter14,15 with invariants that are robust against imperfections has been predicted to support unconventional HH generation16–20. Here we experimentally demonstrate HH generation in a three-dimensional topological insulator—bismuth telluride. The frequency of the terahertz driving field sharply discriminates between HH generation from the bulk and from the topological surface, where the unique combination of long scattering times owing to spin–momentum locking17 and the quasi-relativistic dispersion enables unusually efficient HH generation. Intriguingly, all observed orders can be continuously shifted to arbitrary non-integer multiples of the driving frequency by varying the carrier-envelope phase of the driving field—in line with quantum theory. The anomalous Berry curvature warranted by the non-trivial topology enforces meandering ballistic trajectories of the Dirac fermions, causing a hallmark polarization pattern of the HH emission. Our study provides a platform to explore topology and relativistic quantum physics in strong-field control, and could lead to non-dissipative topological electronics at infrared frequencies.
AB - When intense lightwaves accelerate electrons through a solid, the emerging high-order harmonic (HH) radiation offers key insights into the material1–11. Sub-optical-cycle dynamics—such as dynamical Bloch oscillations2–5, quasiparticle collisions6,12, valley pseudospin switching13 and heating of Dirac gases10—leave fingerprints in the HH spectra of conventional solids. Topologically non-trivial matter14,15 with invariants that are robust against imperfections has been predicted to support unconventional HH generation16–20. Here we experimentally demonstrate HH generation in a three-dimensional topological insulator—bismuth telluride. The frequency of the terahertz driving field sharply discriminates between HH generation from the bulk and from the topological surface, where the unique combination of long scattering times owing to spin–momentum locking17 and the quasi-relativistic dispersion enables unusually efficient HH generation. Intriguingly, all observed orders can be continuously shifted to arbitrary non-integer multiples of the driving frequency by varying the carrier-envelope phase of the driving field—in line with quantum theory. The anomalous Berry curvature warranted by the non-trivial topology enforces meandering ballistic trajectories of the Dirac fermions, causing a hallmark polarization pattern of the HH emission. Our study provides a platform to explore topology and relativistic quantum physics in strong-field control, and could lead to non-dissipative topological electronics at infrared frequencies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106295589&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-021-03466-7
DO - 10.1038/s41586-021-03466-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 34012087
AN - SCOPUS:85106295589
VL - 593
SP - 385
EP - 390
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
SN - 0028-0836
IS - 7859
ER -
ID: 29233002