Year: 2023
Type: preprint
Abstract: Orbital current has emerged over the past years as one of the key novel concepts in magnetotransport. Here, we demonstrate that laser pulses can be used to generate large and robust non-relativistic orbital currents in systems where the inversion symmetry is broken by the orbital Rashba effect. By referring to model and first principles tools, we demonstrate that orbital Rashba effect, accompanied by crystal field splitting, can mediate robust orbital photocurrents without a need for spin-orbit interaction even in metallic systems. We show that such non-relativistic orbital photocurrents are translated into derivative photocurrents of spin when relativistic effects are taken into account. We thus promote orbital photocurrents as a promising platform for optical generation of currents of angular momentum, and discuss their possible applications.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1086637223, G2095278010, G2534561304, TRR 173: Spin+X: Der Spin in seiner kollektiven Umgebung, G3180218165, G3879256282, G434337789, G623080497, TRR 288: Elastisches Tuning und elastische Reaktion elektronischer Quantenphasen der Materie (ELASTOQMAT), G8097512926, Cold Opto-Magnetism for Random Access Devices
OpenAlex ID: W4323716675