Tunable Layer Circular Photogalvanic Effect in Twisted Bilayers

We develop a general theory of the layer circular photogalvanic effect (LCPGE) in quasi-two-dimensional chiral bilayers, which refers to the appearance of a polarization-dependent, out-of-plane static dipole moment induced by circularly polarized light. We elucidate the geometric origin of the LCPGE...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 124; no. 7; p. 077401
Main Authors Gao, Yang, Zhang, Yinhan, Xiao, Di
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 19.02.2020
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Summary:We develop a general theory of the layer circular photogalvanic effect (LCPGE) in quasi-two-dimensional chiral bilayers, which refers to the appearance of a polarization-dependent, out-of-plane static dipole moment induced by circularly polarized light. We elucidate the geometric origin of the LCPGE as two types of interlayer coordinate shift weighted by the quantum metric tensor and the Berry curvature, respectively. As a concrete example, we calculate the LCPGE in twisted bilayer graphene, and find that it exhibits a resonance peak whose frequency can be tuned from visible to infrared as the twisting angle varies. The LCPGE thus provides a promising route toward frequency-sensitive, circularly polarized light detection, particularly in the infrared range.
ISSN:1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.077401