Nonlinear optical properties of Weyl-Kondo semimetals

Recently, the generation of higher-harmonic nonlinear responses via high-intensity pulse probes of solid-state materials was proposed to indicate many-body properties (such as charge dynamics) associated with strong correlations, as well as detect nontrivial topology through Berry curvature contributions to the second harmonic. However, finding suitable platforms to determine how and which higher order harmonic spectral features correspond to band structure properties have been challenging. In light of the discovery of strong-correlation-driven topology in both experimental^1-3 and theoretical^4-5 studies of a Weyl-Kondo semimetal (WKSM), we study the high-harmonic generation (HHG) of the WKSM. Using a Peierls-substituted noncentrosymmetric periodic Anderson model including spin orbit coupling, we contrast the response of the WKSM phase with a topologically trivial Kondo insulator and an uncorrelated Weyl semimetal. We further uncover the significance of features of HHG spectra to many-body dynamics and nontrivial band topology.



¹S. Dzsaber et al., PRL 118, 246601 2017

²S. Dzsaber et al., PNAS 118, 8 2021

³S. Dzsaber et al., Nat Commun 13, 5729 2022

⁴H.-H Lai, S. E. Grefe, S. Paschen, & Q. Si: PNAS 115, 93 2018;

⁵S. E. Grefe, H.-H Lai, S. Paschen, & Q. Si: PRB 101, 075138 2020; arXiv:2012.15841; JPS Conf. Proc. 30, 011013 2020