Electric and spin-valley currents induced by structured light in two-dimensional Dirac materials
Phys. Rev. B 113, 075423 – Published 17 February, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sbhz-2nvs
Abstract
Structured optical fields can be used for the injection and control of charge and spin-valley currents. Here, we present a systematical study of these phenomena for interband absorption of structured light in two-dimensional Dirac materials. We derive general expressions for the current density and the quasiclassical generation rate of photoelectrons in the momentum, coordinate, and spin-valley spaces. We reveal mechanisms of the current formation determined by the local and nonlocal contributions to the optical generation, including the mechanisms related to optical alignment of electron momenta by linearly polarized light, optical orientation by circularly polarized light, and the class of charge and spin-valley photon drags sensitive to the phase and polarization profiles of the optical field. We develop a kinetic theory of electric and spin-valley currents driven by the optical field with spatially inhomogeneous intensity, polarization, and phase and obtain analytical expressions for the current contributions. The theory is applied to analyze the photocurrents emerging in transition-metal dichalcogenide layers and graphene excited by polarization gratings.
