No Arabic abstract
We review recent work on low-frequency Floquet engineering and its application to quantum materials driven by light, emphasizing van der Waals systems hosting Moire superlattices. These non-equilibrium systems combine the twist-angle sensitivity of the band structures with the flexibility of light drives. The frequency, amplitude, and polarization of light can be easily tuned in experimental setups, leading to platforms with on-demand properties. First, we review recent theoretical developments to derive effective Floquet Hamiltonians in different frequency regimes. We apply some of these theories to study twisted graphene and twisted transition metal dichalcogenide systems irradiated by light in free space and inside a waveguide. We study the changes induced in the quasienergies and steady-states, which can lead to topological transitions. Next, we consider van der Waals magnetic materials driven by low-frequency light pulses in resonance with the phonons. We discuss the phonon dynamics induced by the light and resulting magnetic transitions from a Floquet perspective. We finish by outlining new directions for Moire-Floquet engineering in the low-frequency regime and their relevance for technological applications.
Moire engineering has recently emerged as a capable approach to control quantum phenomena in condensed matter systems. In van der Waals heterostructures, moire patterns can be formed by lattice misorientation between adjacent atomic layers, creating long range electronic order. To date, moire engineering has been executed solely in stacked van der Waals multilayers. Herein, we describe our discovery of electronic moire patterns in films of a prototypical magnetoresistive oxide La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) epitaxially grown on LaAlO3 (LAO) substrates. Using scanning probe nano-imaging, we observe microscopic moire profiles attributed to the coexistence and interaction of two distinct incommensurate patterns of strain modulation within these films. The net effect is that both electronic conductivity and ferromagnetism of LSMO are modulated by periodic moire textures extending over mesoscopic scales. Our work provides an entirely new route with potential to achieve spatially patterned electronic textures on demand in strained epitaxial materials.
Dynamic manipulation of magnetism in topological materials is demonstrated here via a Floquet engineering approach using circularly polarized light. Increasing the strength of the laser field, besides the expected topological phase transition, the magnetically doped topological insulator thin film also undergoes a magnetic phase transition from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism, whose critical behavior strongly depends on the quantum quenching. In sharp contrast to the equilibrium case, the non-equilibrium Curie temperatures vary for different time scale and experimental setup, not all relying on change of topology. Our discoveries deepen the understanding of the relationship between topology and magnetism in the non-equilibrium regime and extend optoelectronic device applications to topological materials.
We develop a low-frequency perturbation theory in the extended Floquet Hilbert space of a periodically driven quantum systems, which puts the high- and low-frequency approximations to the Floquet theory on the same footing. It captures adiabatic perturbation theories recently discussed in the literature as well as diabatic deviation due to Floquet resonances. For illustration, we apply our Floquet perturbation theory to a driven two-level system as in the Schwinger-Rabi and the Landau-Zener-Stuckelberg-Majorana models. We reproduce some known expressions for transition probabilities in a simple and systematic way and clarify and extend their regime of applicability. We then apply the theory to a periodically-driven system of fermions on the lattice and obtain the spectral properties and the low-frequency dynamics of the system.
The nonlinear optical and optoelectronic properties of graphene with the emphasis on the processes of harmonic generation, frequency mixing, photon drag and photogalvanic effects as well as generation of photocurrents due to coherent interference effects, are reviewed. The article presents the state-of-the-art of this subject, including both recent advances and well-established results. Various physical mechanisms controlling transport are described in depth including phenomenological description based on symmetry arguments, models visualizing physics of nonlinear responses, and microscopic theory of individual effects.
An improved method for characterizing the magnetic anisotropy of films with cubic symmetry is described and is applied to an yttrium iron garnet (111) film. Analysis of the FMR spectra performed both in-plane and out-of-plane from 0.7 to 8 GHz yielded the magnetic anisotropy constants as well as the saturation magnetization. The field at which FMR is observed turns out to be quite sensitive to anisotropy constants (by more than a factor ten) in the low frequency (< 2 GHz) regime and when the orientation of the magnetic field is nearly normal to the sample plane; the restoring force on the magnetization arising from the magnetocrystalline anisotropy fields is then comparable to that from the external field, thereby allowing the anisotropy constants to be determined with greater accuracy. In this region, unusual dynamical behaviors are observed such as multiple resonances and a switching of FMR resonance with only a 1 degree change in field orientation at 0.7 GHz.