Revisiting the Photon-Drag Effect in Metal Films

Magnetically dependent photovoltages in permalloy films and gratings

Significant photoinduced voltages observed in permalloy structures consist of two contributions with different origins, which depend on illumination conditions, structure geometry and magnetic field in distinct ways. The first component is the plasmon drag effect voltage closely associated with plasmon propagation. The second contribution is magnetically dependent and can be related to photoinduced gradients in the sample temperature and spin polarization. Possible mechanisms of the effect are discussed.

Coulomb drag induced non-local resistance in double graphene layers

We study the effect of Coulomb drag between graphene layers in presence of viscosity term. To do this, we use the simple model of Stokes equations for drift velocities in active and passive layers, known as Pogrebinskii's approach. The solution to these equations allows us to find the potential distribution, and thus the non-local drag resistance of passive layer. It is shown that in viscous regime the non-local resistance may take negative values, in contrast, the ohmic regime results in positive non-local resistance for all drag strengths. Additionally, we discuss the influence of magnetic field on the non-local drag magnetoresistance.

Observation of Hot Carrier Localization Affected by A Cations in Hybrid Perovskites

Organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites (OLHPs) have demonstrated exceptional properties in high-performance photoelectric devices. However, the impact of A-site cations, specifically formamidinium and methylammonium (MA), on the optoelectronic properties of OLHPs, particularly in the context of hot carrier utilization, remains a topic of debate. In this study, we propose a method for characterizing hot carrier transportation by measuring the hot carrier mobility and momentum-dependent transient photocurrent influenced by A-site cations in OLHPs. Our findings reveal that the direction of photon drag current is reversed upon substitution of the MA cation, suggesting the strong localization of hot carriers by the MA cation dipole. Furthermore, the correlation between the hot carrier photoconductivity and the electronic structure in different A-site cation samples indicates that hot carrier mobility in OLHPs can be reduced by >50% due to the influence of A-site cations.

Emerging Nonlinear Photocurrents in Lead Halide Perovskites for Spintronics

Lead halide perovskites (LHPs) containing organic parts are emerging optoelectronic materials with a wide range of applications thanks to their high optical absorption, carrier mobility, and easy preparation methods. They possess spin-dependent properties, such as strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), and are promising for spintronics. The Rashba effect in LHPs can be manipulated by a magnetic field and a polarized light field. Considering the surfaces and interfaces of LHPs, light polarization-dependent optoelectronics of LHPs has attracted attention, especially in terms of spin-dependent photocurrents (SDPs). Currently, there are intense efforts being made in the identification and separation of SDPs and spin-to-charge interconversion in LHP. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of second-order nonlinear photocurrents in LHP in regard to spintronics. First, a detailed background on Rashba SOC and its related effects (including the inverse Rashba-Edelstein effect) is given. Subsequently, nonlinear photo-induced effects leading to SDPs are presented. Then, SDPs due to the photo-induced inverse spin Hall effect and the circular photogalvanic effect, together with photocurrent due to the photon drag effect, are compared. This is followed by the main focus of nonlinear photocurrents in LHPs containing organic parts, starting from fundamentals related to spin-dependent optoelectronics. Finally, we conclude with a brief summary and future prospects.

ac Hall Effect and Photon Drag of Superconducting Condensates

We suggest a theoretical description of the photogalvanic phenomena arising in superconducting condensates in the field of electromagnetic wave. The ac Hall effect and photon drag are shown to originate from the second-order nonlinear response of superconducting carriers caused by the suppression of their concentration due to the combined influence of the electron-hole asymmetry and charge imbalance generated by the incident electromagnetic wave. Starting from the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory with the complex relaxation constant, we develop a phenomenological description of these phenomena and investigate the resulting behavior of the dc supercurrent and second harmonic induced by microwave radiation incident on a superconductor surface.

Quantifying colors at micrometer scale by colorimetric microscopy (C-Microscopy) approach

The color is the primal property of the objects around us and is direct manifestation of light-matter interactions. The color information is used in many different fields of science, technology and industry to investigate material properties or for identification of concentrations of substances. Usually the color information is used as a global parameter in a macro scale. To quantitatively measure color information in micro scale one needs to use dedicated microscope spectrophotometers or specialized micro-reflectance setups. Here, the Colorimetric Microscopy (C-Microscopy) approach based on digital optical microscopy and a free software is presented. The C-Microscopy approach uses color calibrated image and colorimetric calculations to obtain physically meaningful quantities i.e., dominant wavelength and excitation purity maps at micro level scale. This allows for the discovery of the local color details of samples surfaces. Later, to fully characterize the optical properties, the hyperspectral reflectance data at micro scale (reflectance as a function of wavelength for a each point) are colorimetrically recovered. The C-Microscopy approach was successfully applied to various types of samples i.e., two metamorphic rocks unakite and lapis lazuli, which are mixtures of different minerals; and to the surface of gold 99.999 % pellet, which exhibits different types of surface features. The C-Microscopy approach could be used to quantify the local optical properties changes of various materials at microscale in an accessible way. The approach is freely available as a set of python jupyter notebooks.

Bogolon-mediated light absorption in atomic condensates of different dimensionality

In the case of structureless bosons, cooled down to low temperatures, the absorption of electromagnetic waves by their Bose-Einstein condensate is usually forbidden due to the momentum and energy conservation laws: the phase velocity of the collective modes of the condensate called bogolons is sufficiently lower than the speed of light. Thus, only the light scattering processes persist. However, the situation might be different in the case of composite bosons or the bosons with an internal structure. Here, we develop a microscopic theory of electromagnetic power absorption by a Bose-Einstein condensates of cold atoms in various dimensions, utilizing the Bogoliubov model of a weakly-interacting Bose gas. Thus, we address the transitions between a collective coherent state of bosons and the discrete energy levels corresponding to excited internal degrees of freedom of non-condensed individual bosons. It is shown, that such transitions are mediated by one and two-bogolon excitations above the condensate, which demonstrate different efficiency at different frequencies and strongly depend on the condensate density, which influence varies depending on the dimensionality of the system.

Photoinduced electric effects in various plasmonic materials

Photoinduced voltages associated with surface plasmon polariton excitations are studied both theoretically and experimentally in various plasmonic systems as the function of material, wavelength, and type of structure. Experimental photovoltage normalized to the absorbed power shows a general decrease upon an increase in the wavelength, enhancement in the nanostructured samples, and a strong variation in the magnitude as a function of the material, which are not in line with the theoretical predictions of the simple plasmonic pressure approach. The results can be used for clarification of the mechanisms and further development of an adequate theoretical approach to the plasmon drag effect.

Incident Angle Dependence of the Waveform of the Polarization-Sensitive Photoresponse in CuSe/Se Thin Film

The results of studying the waveforms of longitudinal and transverse photocurrent pulses generated in thin, semitransparent CuSe/Se films as a function of the angle of incidence (α) of a femtosecond laser beam at linear and circular polarizations are presented. It has been established that the durations of unipolar longitudinal photocurrent pulses at linear and circular polarizations of laser pumping do not depend on the angle α. It is shown that the evolution of the temporal profile of the helicity-sensitive transverse photocurrent with a change in α strongly depends on polarization. At linear polarization, the shape of the unipolar pulses remains virtually constant; however, at circular polarization, the generation of unipolar and bipolar pulses is possible, with the waveforms strongly depending on the angle α. The influence of the incidence angle on the waveforms of transverse photocurrent pulses is explained by the transformation of linear and circular polarization into an elliptical upon the refraction of light at the air/semitransparent film interface and by the interplay of photocurrents arising due to linear and circular surface photogalvanic effects in the film. The presented findings can be utilized to develop polarization and incidence angle-sensitive photovoltaic devices.

Geometric Photon-Drag Effect and Nonlinear Shift Current in Centrosymmetric Crystals

The nonlinear shift current, also known as the bulk photovoltaic current generated by linearly polarized light, has long been known to be absent in crystals with inversion symmetry. Here we argue that a nonzero shift current in centrosymmetric crystals can be activated by a photon-drag effect. Photon-drag shift current proceeds from a "shift current dipole" (a geometric quantity characterizing interband transitions) and manifests a purely transverse response in centrosymmetric crystals. This transverse nature proceeds directly from the shift-vector's pseudovector nature under mirror operation and underscores its intrinsic geometric origin. Photon-drag shift current can be greatly enhanced by coupling to polaritons and provides a new and sensitive tool to interrogate the subtle interband coherences of materials with inversion symmetry previously thought to be inaccessible via photocurrent probes.

Interaction of polarization-sensitive surface photocurrents in semitransparent CuSe/Se film

We demonstrate that the transverse polarization-sensitive photoresponse of the CuSe/Se nanocomposite film deposited on a transparent substrate depends on whether the film is irradiated from the air side or substrate side. In particular, the nanosecond photocurrent pulse is either bipolar or unipolar pulse depending on which interface beam hits first. The observed phenomenon can be described in terms of the interplay between counter-propagating photocurrents generated at the air/nanocomposite and substrate/nanocomposite interfaces due to the surface photogalvanic effect. Our experimental findings can be employed to control the amplitude and temporal profile of the photoresponse by changing the polarization of the excitation laser beam.

Circular photocurrent in the carbon nanowall film

We report the helicity-dependent photocurrent in the carbon nanowall film synthesized on the silicon substrates by the chemical vapor deposition technique. The film is composed of multilayer graphene flakes grown along the substrate normal. We measured the transverse photocurrent generated in the film under irradiation with nanosecond laser pulses by depositing two conductive electrodes along the plane of incidence. The measurements were performed by using elliptically polarized fundamental, second-, third-, and fourth-harmonics beams of the Nd:YAG laser. We revealed that the shorter the excitation wavelength, the higher the magnitude of the helicity-dependent transverse photocurrent generated in the film. In particular, at wavelengths of 266 and 355 nm, the photocurrent strongly depends on the degree of the circular polarization of the laser beam while, at the wavelength of 1064 nm, the transverse photocurrent is almost helicity independent.