Introduction to theory of high-harmonic generation in solids: tutorial

Abstract

High-harmonic generation (HHG) in solids has emerged in recent years as a rapidly expanding and interdisciplinary field, attracting attention from both the condensed-matter and the atomic, molecular, and optics communities. It has exciting prospects for the engineering of new light sources and the probing of ultrafast carrier dynamics in solids, and the theoretical understanding of this process is of fundamental importance. This tutorial provides a hands-on introduction to the theoretical description of the strong-field laser–matter interactions in a condensed-phase system that give rise to HHG. We provide an overview ranging from a detailed description of different approaches to calculating the microscopic dynamics and how these are intricately connected to the description of the crystal structure, through the conceptual understanding of HHG in solids as supported by the semiclassical recollision model. Finally, we offer a brief description of how to calculate the macroscopic response. We also give a general introduction to the Berry phase, and we discuss important subtleties in the modeling of HHG, such as the choice of structure and laser gauges, and the construction of a smooth and periodic structure gauge for both nondegenerate and degenerate bands. The advantages and drawbacks of different structure and laser-gauge choices are discussed, both in terms of their ability to address specific questions and in terms of their numerical feasibility.