Zero-magnetic-field hall effect in broken-mirror-symmetry conductors under illumination

A novel effect is predicted for conductors with a broken mirror symmetry [e.g., polar metals and asymmetrical quantum well (QW) structures]: if such a conductor is under the direct current J approximately E(d), the circular polarized infrared radiation should induce an additional transverse current JH approximately E(d)xc, where E(d) is the driving electric field and c is a vector directed either along the polar axis or perpendicular to a QW. The sign of the current JH can be reversed by switching the helicity of the light from right to left-handed. Thus the phenomenon is, in fact, something like the Hall effect in which light acts as an external magnetic field.