Abstract
We study theoretically the interaction of twisted light with graphene. The light-matter interaction matrix elements between the tight-binding states of electrons in graphene are determined near the Dirac points. We examine the dynamics of the photoexcitation process by posing the equations of motion of the density matrix and working up to second order in the field. The time evolution of the angular momentum of the photoexcited electrons and their associated photocurrents are examined in order to elucidate the mechanisms of angular momentum transfer. We find that the transfer of spin and orbital angular momentum from light to the electrons is more akin here to the case of intraband than of interband transitions in semiconductors, due to the fact that the two relevant energy bands of graphene originate from the same atomic orbitals.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A.H. Castro Neto, F. Guinea, N.M.R. Peres, K.S. Novoselov, A.K. Geim, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 109 (2009)
D.S.L. Abergel, V. Apalkov, J. Berashevich, K. Zieglerc, T. Chakraborty, Adv. Phys. 59, 261 (2010)
K.S. Novoselov, A.K. Geim, S.V. Morozov, D. Jiang, M.I. Katsnelson, I.V. Grigorieva, S.V. Dubonos, A.A. Firsov, Nature 438, 197 (2005)
N. Stander, B. Huard, D. Goldhaber-Gordon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 026807 (2009)
A.F. Young, P. Kim, Nat. Phys. 8, 222 (2009)
A. Kuzmenko, E. van Heumen, F. Carbone, D. van der Marel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 117401 (2008)
E. Nair, P. Blake, A. Grigorenko, K. Novoselov, T. Booth, T. Stauber, N. Peres, A. Geim, Science 320, 308 (2008)
L. Allen, M.W. Beijersbergen, R.J.C. Spreeuw, J.P. Woerdman, Phys. Rev. A 45, 8185 (1992)
D.L. Andrews, Structured Light and Its Applications: An Introduction to Phase-Structured Beams and Nanoscale Optical Forces (Academic Press, 2008)
G.F. Quinteiro, P.I. Tamborenea, Europhys. Lett. 85, 47001 (2009)
G.F. Quinteiro, P.I. Tamborenea, Phys. Rev. B 79, 155450 (2009)
G.F. Quinteiro, P.I. Tamborenea, Phys. Rev. B 82, 125207 (2010)
M.F. Andersen, C. Ryu, P. Clade, V. Natarajan, A. Vaziri, K. Helmerson, W.D. Phillips, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 170406 (2006)
J. Watzel, A.S. Moskalenko, J. Berakdar, Opt. Express 20, 27792 (2012)
Y. Ueno, Y. Toda, S. Adachi, R. Morita, T. Tawara, Opt. Express 17, 20567 (2009)
N.B. Clayburn, J.L. McCarter, J.M. Dreiling, M. Poelker, D.M. Ryan, T.J. Gay, Phys. Rev. B 87, 035204 (2013)
E.J. Mele, P. Kral, D. Tomanek, Phys. Rev. B 61, 7669 (2000)
M. Mecklenburg, B.C. Regan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 116803 (2011)
W. Schäfer, M. Wegener, Semiconductor Optics and Transport Phenomena (Springer, New York, 2002)
T. Winzer, A. Knorr, E. Malic, Nano Lett. 10, 4839 (2010)
A. Ferreira, J. Viana-Gomes, Y.V. Bludov, V.M. Pereira, N.M.R. Peres, A.H. Castro Neto, Phys. Rev. B 84, 235410 (2011)
A. Ferreira, N.M.R. Peres, R.M. Ribeiro, T. Stauber, Phys. Rev. B 85, 115438 (2012)
P. Recher, B. Trauzettel, A. Rycerz, Ya.M. Blanter, C.W.J. Beenakker, A.F. Morpurgo, Phys. Rev. B 76, 235404 (2007)
M. Hentschel, F. Guinea, Phys. Rev. B 76, 115407 (2007)
B. Wunsch, T. Stauber, F. Guinea, Phys. Rev. B 77, 035316 (2008)
J. Cserti, A. Pályi, C. Péterfalvi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 246801 (2007)
N.M.R. Peres, J.N.B. Rodrigues, T. Stauber, J.M.B. Lopes dos Santos, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21, 344202 (2009)
L.C. Dávila-Romero, D.L. Andrews, M. Babiker, J. Opt. B 4, S66 (2002)
G.F. Quinteiro, J. Berakdar, Opt. Express 17, 20465 (2009)
G.F. Quinteiro, P.I. Tamborenea, J. Berakdar, Opt. Express 19, 26733 (2011)
J.D. Hunter, Comput. Sci. Eng. 9, 90 (2007)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Farías, M.B., Quinteiro, G.F. & Tamborenea, P.I. Photoexcitation of graphene with twisted light. Eur. Phys. J. B 86, 432 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-40621-2
Received:
Revised:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-40621-2