High-harmonic generation in graphene enhanced by elliptically polarized light excitation

Abstract

Graphene takes light to a higher level High harmonic generation is a useful nonlinear effect in which the light-matter interaction within a material results in the conversion of one wavelength to a shorter one. Typically performed in atomic gases, there is now interest in extending such a process to the solid state. Yoshikawa et al. pumped single-layer graphene with intense polarized pulses of infrared light to generate ultraviolet light, up to the ninth harmonic. Theoretical analysis of the process suggests that the effect could be transferred to other solid-state systems, providing a possible route to develop coherent light sources across the spectrum. Science , this issue p. 736