Photogalvanic effect in few-layer graphene
Phys. Rev. B 114, 045428 – Published 24 July, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5b59-8zdc
Abstract
We systematically investigate the nonlinear photogalvanic effect in few-layer graphene with various stacking orders, including AA- and AB-stacked bilayers, and AAA-, ABA-, and ABC-stacked trilayers. Using a tight-binding model to describe the electronic states, the shift current conductivity and jerk current conductivity are calculated over a broad spectral range from terahertz to visible frequencies. Our symmetry analysis reveals that a nonvanishing shift current emerges only in ABA-stacked trilayer graphene due to its broken inversion symmetry, with a peak conductivity reaching approximately at optimal doping. In contrast, the jerk current, permitted in all structures, requires an in-plane static electric field and exhibits pronounced spectral tunability with chemical potential. These findings provide design principles for tunable, polarization-sensitive photodetection and energy-harvesting devices based on van der Waals few-layer films.