2015/05/31 by Arijit Kundu, H. A. Fertig, Babak Seradjeh · 95 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #2D Materials and Applications #Condensed matter physics #Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) #Dirac (video compression format) #Dirac fermion #Floquet theory #Graphene #Graphene research and applications #Inversion (geology) #Physics #Point reflection #Quantum mechanics #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Valleytronics #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.116.016802
published in Physical Review Letters 116(1), 016802 (American Physical Society) · v2: 4+3 pages, 4+5 figures, new title, extended discussion of realistic optical parameters, modeling of numerical results, and additional references
arxiv created 2015/10/05 · openalex publication_date 2016/01/08 · arxiv updated 2016/01/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Valley degrees of freedom offer a potential resource for quantum information processing if they can be effectively controlled. We discuss an optical approach to this problem in which intense light breaks electronic symmetries of a two-dimensional Dirac material. The resulting quasienergy structures may then differ for different valleys, so that the Floquet physics of the system can be exploited to produce highly polarized valley currents. This physics can be utilized to realize a valley valve whose behavior is determined optically. We propose a concrete way to achieve such valleytronics in graphene as well as in a simple model of an inversion-symmetry broken Dirac material. We study the effect numerically and demonstrate its robustness against moderate disorder and small deviations in optical parameters.