Light-wave-controlled Haldane model in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride

Sambit Mitra, Álvaro Jiménez-Galán (), Mario Aulich, Marcel Neuhaus, Rui E. F. Silva, Volodymyr Pervak, Matthias F. Kling and Shubhadeep Biswas ()
Additional contact information
Sambit Mitra: Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
Álvaro Jiménez-Galán: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Mario Aulich: Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich
Marcel Neuhaus: Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
Rui E. F. Silva: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Volodymyr Pervak: Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
Matthias F. Kling: Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
Shubhadeep Biswas: Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

Nature, 2024, vol. 628, issue 8009, 752-757

Abstract: Abstract In recent years, the stacking and twisting of atom-thin structures with matching crystal symmetry has provided a unique way to create new superlattice structures in which new properties emerge1,2. In parallel, control over the temporal characteristics of strong light fields has allowed researchers to manipulate coherent electron transport in such atom-thin structures on sublaser-cycle timescales3,4. Here we demonstrate a tailored light-wave-driven analogue to twisted layer stacking. Tailoring the spatial symmetry of the light waveform to that of the lattice of a hexagonal boron nitride monolayer and then twisting this waveform result in optical control of time-reversal symmetry breaking5 and the realization of the topological Haldane model6 in a laser-dressed two-dimensional insulating crystal. Further, the parameters of the effective Haldane-type Hamiltonian can be controlled by rotating the light waveform, thus enabling ultrafast switching between band structure configurations and allowing unprecedented control over the magnitude, location and curvature of the bandgap. This results in an asymmetric population between complementary quantum valleys that leads to a measurable valley Hall current7, which can be detected by optical harmonic polarimetry. The universality and robustness of our scheme paves the way to valley-selective bandgap engineering on the fly and unlocks the possibility of creating few-femtosecond switches with quantum degrees of freedom.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07244-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:628:y:2024:i:8009:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07244-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07244-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().