arXiv · 2511.05318
Directional Photocurrent Generated by Quantum Interference Control
Abstract
Although the absorption of light in a bulk homogeneous semiconductor produces photocarriers with non-zero momentum, it generally does not produce a current in the absence of an applied electric field because equal amounts of carriers with opposite momentum are injected. The interference of absorption processes, for example, between one-photon and two-photon absorption, can produce a current because constructive interference for carriers with one momentum can correspond to destructive interference for carriers with the opposite momentum. We show that for the interference between two-photon and three-photon absorption, the current has a narrower angular spread, i.e., a ``beam'' of electrons in a specified direction is produced in the semiconductor.
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Yiming Gong, Kai Wang, Steven T. Cundiff. 2025-11-07. Directional Photocurrent Generated by Quantum Interference Control. https://doi.org/10.1103/3v91-5pzf
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