Twisting harmonics: Transfer of orbital angular momentum in solid-state high-harmonic generation

Abstract

Although solid-state platforms underpin modern electronics, little is known about how intense ultrashort light pulses carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) interact with solids. This gap persists even though, for more conventional light-matter interactions, the complex underlying electron dynamics can often be confined to a single Brillouin zone and described well within the dipole approximation. Previous studies were restricted to nonlinear, perturbative regimes, largely because the generation of intense ultrashort vortex pulses, particularly in the mid-infrared spectral regime, has remained a long-standing challenge. Consequently, the role of structured light in driving nonlinear, non-perturbative processes in solids, and the associated transfer of angular momentum during these interactions, has not been systematically explored. Here, we investigate solid-state high-harmonic generation (HHG) driven by intense ultrashort structured light using a versatile experimental approach applicable to different materials and geometries. We demonstrate that the OAM of the driving field is coherently transferred to the emitted harmonics. In particular, we show that the OAM is conserved independently of the crystal symmetry, the range of electronic interactions, and the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. These results establish OAM-resolved HHG as a robust framework for characterizing and controlling angular momentum transfer in solid-state HHG and open new avenues for structured-light-driven quantum technologies and topological materials investigations.