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Updated: Mar 6, 2026

Using Microwave and Macroscopic Samples of Dielectric Solids to Study the Photonic Properties of Disordered Photonic Bandgap Materials
Published on: September 26, 2014
Impact of the Electronic Band Structure in High-Harmonic Generation Spectra of Solids
Nicolas Tancogne-Dejean1,2, Oliver D Mücke3,4, Franz X Kärtner3,4,5,6
1Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
An accurate analytic model describing the microscopic mechanism of high-harmonic generation (HHG) in solids is derived. Extensive first-principles simulations within a time-dependent density-functional framework corroborate the conclusions of the model. Our results reveal that (i) the emitted HHG spectra are highly anisotropic and laser-polarization dependent even for cubic crystals; (ii) the harmonic emission is enhanced by the inhomogeneity of the electron-nuclei potential; the yield is increased for heavier atoms; and (iii) the cutoff photon energy is driver-wavelength independent. Moreover, we show that it is possible to predict the laser polarization for optimal HHG in bulk crystals solely from the knowledge of their electronic band structure. Our results pave the way to better control and optimize HHG in solids by engineering their band structure.
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