First-principles calculation of Jerk current in polar and nonpolar semiconductors*

The bulk photovoltaic effect is the archetypical example of nontrivial carrier dynamics in illuminated insulators lacking a center of inversion. The injection current (also known as ballistic current or circular photogalvanic effect), a component of the bulk photovoltaic effect, could play an important role in optoelectronic applications, e.g. solar cells or as a probe of the topology of materials. The Jerk current is a generalization of the injection current to third order in the electric fields [1]. We present a first-principles calculation of the Jerk current spectrum in prototypical semiconductors Si, CdSe, GaAs and novel two-dimensional ferroelectric monolayer GeSe, GeS, SnS and SnSe. We show that, similar to the injection current, the jerk current is a sensitive probe of the geometry of the Bloch wave specially in reduced dimensions. Experimental ramifications are also discussed.

[1] Benjamin M. Fregoso, Rodrigo A. Muniz, J. E. Sipe, “Jerk current: a novel bulk photovoltaic effect”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 176604 (2018)