Circular photogalvanic effect

Abstract

The spin and valley degree of freedom are a novel way to extend the functionalities of spintronic and valleytronic devices. A traditional, room-temperature way of examining the spin polarization generates the photocurrent whose magnitude and polarity depend on chirality of induced optical excitation. The circularly polarized photovoltaic effect is a kind of second-order nonlinear photoelectric response, which means that the photocurrent generated varies with the polarization angle of circularly polarized light. The generation of photocurrent depends on many factors such as spin, valley polarization, symmetry and Berry curvature, so it can reveal the fundamental physical properties of materials. In this review, we discuss the main mechanisms of circularly polarized photovoltaic effect in different material systems, including circularly polarized optical current caused by symmetry breakdown of Rashba spin-orbit coupling in semiconductor heterojunction, the electron momentum selection caused by Berry curvature and Pauli blocking in topological Weyl semimetals, and the valley polarization current generated by circularly polarized light in TMDC. Additionally, the recent progress of applications of circular photogalvanic effect is also presented.