We investigate a phonon-modulation mechanism for controlling high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in wurtzite ZnO. Lattice distortions along specific phonon eigenvectors break crystal symmetry and reshape the Berry curvature, which in turn affects the direction, strength, and spectral characteristics of the emitted harmonics. To uncover the microscopic origin of this behavior, we systematically elucidate the nonlinear phononics in ZnO, including the mechanisms of phonon excitation and phonon-phonon coupling. Based on this framework, the control of HHG by phonons arises from the combined influence of the phonon vibration direction, the laser-field polarization, and the crystal symmetry. These results open a pathway to symmetry-guided and phonon-mode-engineered control of ultrafast light emission in solids.

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• High-order harmonic generation
• Phonons
• Density functional calculations