Berry-dipole photovoltaic demon and the thermodynamics of photocurrent generation within the optical gap of metals
Li-kun Shi, Oles Matsyshyn, Justin C. W. Song, Inti Sodemann
Abstract
Employing a detailed model of electrons coupled to a heat bath, this work demonstrates the generation of photocurrents when the frequency of light lies within the optical gap of a metal in the limit of small absorption. Such in-gap rectification is shown to be consistent with thermodynamic principles and is generally dissipative. The nonlinear Hall effect behaves, however, as a special dissipationless ``demon'' that can perform a highly efficient and reversible transfer of energy between the radiation and an external circuit.
Topics & Concepts
PhysicsPhotocurrentRectificationBand gapBerry connection and curvatureDipoleCondensed matter physicsOptoelectronicsQuantum mechanicsVoltageQuantumQuantum and electron transport phenomenaAdvanced Thermodynamics and Statistical MechanicsTopological Materials and Phenomena