Light-Field-Driven Non-Ohmic Current and Keldysh Crossover in a Weyl Semimetal

In recent years, coherent electrons driven by light fields have attracted significant interest in exploring novel material phases and functionalities. However, observing coherent light-field-driven electron dynamics in solids is challenging because the electrons are scattered within several ten femtoseconds in ordinary materials, and the coherence between light and electrons is disturbed. However, when we use Weyl semimetals, the electron scattering becomes relatively long (several hundred femtoseconds - several picoseconds), owing to the suppression of the back-scattering process. This study presents the light-field-driven dynamics by the THz pulse to Weyl semimetal Co₃Sn₂S₂, where the intense THz pulse of a monocycle electric field nonlinearly generates direct current (DC) via coherent acceleration without scattering and non-adiabatic excitation (Landau-Zener Transition). In other words, the non-Ohmic current appears in the Weyl semimetal with a combination of the long relaxation time and an intense THz pulse. This nonlinear DC generation also demonstrates a Keldysh crossover from a photon picture to a light-field picture by increasing the electric field strength [1].<br/><br/>[1] R. Ikeda, H. Watanabe, J. H. Moon, M. H. Jung, K. Takasan, S. Kimura, arXiv: 2306.08876.