High harmonic spectroscopy of strongly correlated and topological materials, seminar by Rui E. F. Silva

Date: 15h, Wed 25th of October 2023

Location: Sala de conferencias, módulo 0 (Faculty of Science, UAM)

By Rui E. F. Silva, LaCaixa Junior Leader fellow, Instituto de Ciencias de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC)

Title: High harmonic spectroscopy of strongly correlated and topological materials

Abstract: The recent discovery of high harmonic generation in solids [1], merging the fields of strong field and

condensed matter physics, opened the door for the direct observation of Bloch oscillations [1], all-optical

reconstruction of the band structure [2] and direct observation of the influence of the Berry curvature in

the optical response [3].

In this work, we will focus on high harmonic generation in strongly correlated and topological materials. First, I will show how high harmonic spectroscopy can be used to induce and time resolve

insulator-to-metal transitions in strongly correlated materials, using the Hubbard model [4]. I will further demonstrate how high harmonic spectroscopy can be used to identify topological phases of matter

and how the Berry curvature leaves its fingerprint in the nonlinear optical response of the material [5].

Using a combination of w-2w counter-rotating strong circular fields, we demonstrate that we are able

to induce valley polarization in hexagonal 2D materials and use HHG spectroscopy to read the valley

polarization [6]. At last, I will show how the use of Wannier orbitals can be useful in the calculation of

the nonlinear optical response of solids [7].

[1] S. Ghimire et al., Nat. Phys., 7 138-141 (2011)

[2] G. Vampa et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 115 193603 (2015)

[3] H. Liu et al., Nat. Phys., 13 262-265 (2017)

[4] R. E. F. Silva, I. Blinov, A. Rubtsov, O. Smirnova and M. Ivanov, Nat. Phot., 12 266-270 (2018)

[5] R. E. F. Silva, Á. Jiménez-Galán, B. Amorim, O. Smirnova, M. Ivanov, Nat. Phot., 13 849-854

(2019)

[6] Á. Jiménez-Galán, R. E. F. Silva, O. Smirnova, M. Ivanov, Nat. Phot., 10.1038/s41566-020-00717-

3 (2020)

[7] R. E. F. Silva, F. Martin, M. Ivanov, Phys. Rev. B, 100 195201 (2019)