Observation of interband Berry phase in laser-driven crystals

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Uzan-Narovlansky, Ayelet J.; Faeyrman, Lior; Brown, Graham G.; Shames, Sergei; Narovlansky, Vladimir; Xiao, Jiewen; Arusi-Parpar, Talya; Kneller, Omer; Bruner, Barry D.; Smirnova, Olga; Silva, Rui E. F.; Yan, Binghai; Jimenez-Galan, Alvaro; Ivanov, Misha; Dudovich, Nirit
• 署名单位: Weizmann Institute of Science; Princeton University; Leibniz Association; Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics & Short Term Spectroscopy; Princeton University; Weizmann Institute of Science; Technical University of Berlin; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC); CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM); Imperial College London; Humboldt University of Berlin
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-4764
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06828-5
• 发表日期: 2024-02-01
• 关键词: high-harmonic generation; geometric phase; field

摘要

Ever since its discovery1, the notion of the Berry phase has permeated all branches of physics and plays an important part in a variety of quantum phenomena2. However, so far all its realizations have been based on a continuous evolution of the quantum state, following a cyclic path. Here we introduce and demonstrate a conceptually new manifestation of the Berry phase in light-driven crystals, in which the electronic wavefunction accumulates a geometric phase during a discrete evolution between different bands, while preserving the coherence of the process. We experimentally reveal this phase by using a strong laser field to engineer an internal interferometer, induced during less than one cycle of the driving field, which maps the phase onto the emission of higher-order harmonics. Our work provides an opportunity for the study of geometric phases, leading to a variety of observations in light-driven topological phenomena and attosecond solid-state physics. The Berry phase is resolved in light-driven crystals, via attosecond interferometry, in which the electronic wavefunction accumulates a geometric phase as it interacts with the laser field, mapping its coherence into the emission of high-order harmonics.