Geometrical nonlinear optical effects of correlated electron systems*

The responses of materials to high intensity light, i.e., nonlinear optical responses, constitute a vast field of physics and engineering. One of nonlinear optical responses that are attracting a recent keen attention is a bulk photovoltaic effect called shift current which arises from a geometrical (Berry) phase of a Bloch wave function and has a close relationship to the modern theory of electric polarization [1]. While most previous studies of the bulk photovoltaic effects have focused on band insulators of noninteracting electrons, systems of correlated electrons have a potential to support a novel nonlinear functionality. In this talk, I will present novel nonlinear optical effects originating from unique excitations in correlated electron systems, including excitons in semiconductors [2], magnetic excitations in multiferroic materials [3], and phonon excitations in electron-phonon coupled systems [4].