Lightwave-driven currents in graphene*

Control of electrons in 2D materials has been at the forefront of attosecond and condensed matter physics resulting in the control of physical observables such as ballistic currents dependent on the sub-cycle properties of the driving lightwaves. This light–matter interaction regime forms the basis for lightwave electronics, suggesting a clear path toward the processing of information at the femtosecond time scale by interaction of strong coherent fields with solids.

I first will discuss how we can generate logic gates on a graphene structure capable of performing Boolean operations driven by few-cycle optical pulses. By disentangling the roles of real and virtual charge carriers in the graphene structure, we can gain a deeper understanding of how to manipulate electrons on the attosecond timescale for lightwave electronics. In the second half, I will discuss our recent work of band structure engineering of graphene using complex two-color waveforms. By tailoring the driving laser’s waveform, we can reshape graphene’s band structure to Floquet-Bloch bands that allow for valley-selective physics. We observe currents that are sensitive to the two-color phase and polarization which correspond to valley selective currents and an absence of current corresponding to valley polarization.