Rashba-induced intersubband interference in high-harmonic generation
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Updated: Nov 1, 2026

20 mJ, 1 ps Yb:YAG Thin-disk Regenerative Amplifier
Published on: July 12, 2017
Hongbin Zhan1,2, Chen Qian1,3, Tong Wu1
1Institute of Ultrafast Optical Physics, Department of Applied Physics & MIIT Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Microstructure and Quantum Sensing, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.
Abstract:
High-harmonic spectroscopy is exquisitely sensitive to the electronic structure and dynamics of quantum materials, yet quantum interference between spin-orbit-split bands has remained experimentally elusive. We observe this interference between Rashba-split bands in bismuth tellurium iodide (BiTeI) driven by strong mid-infrared laser fields. The sixth harmonic exhibits intensity-scaling kinks and an M-shaped ellipticity dependence. Theoretical simulations attribute these features to spin-orbit-mediated multichannel quantum interference, which arises from Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-type intersubband tunneling between Rashba-split bands. The suppression of harmonic yield under linearly polarized pulses arises from destructive interference among electron-hole recombination pathways, whereas increasing ellipticity modifies their relative phase and induces a distinct spectral redshift. These results establish high-harmonic spectroscopy as a probe of spin-textured band dynamics and ultrafast spin-polarized currents.
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