Terahertz nonlinear optical response from transition metal monopnictide Weyl semimetal TaAs

ORAL

Abstract

Weyl semimetals are a newly discovered class of materials whose low-energy excitations are massless chiral fermions known as Weyl fermions. It has recently been shown that the transition metal monopnictide (TMMP) family of Weyl semimetals has a giant anisotropic nonlinear optical response, [arXiv:1609.04894] as revealed by optical second harmonic generation. We report here the nonlinear response of the TMMP TaAs through optical rectification of amplified femtosecond laser radiation, a phenomenon related to photogalvanic and nonlinear Hall effects. The emitted rectified radiation is in the Terahertz energy range of around 4 meV and allows us to study electron dynamics close to the Fermi surface.

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Authors

  • Shreyas Patankar

    • University of California, Berkeley

  • Liang Wu

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • Univ of California - Berkeley

  • Arielle Little

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • Univ of California - Berkeley

  • Eric Thewalt

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Dylan Rees

    • University of California, Berkeley

  • Nityan Nair

    • University of California, Berkeley

  • James Analytis

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • UC Berkeley

  • Joseph Orenstein

    • University of California, Berkeley