Giant optical nonlinearity of graphene in a strong magnetic field

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that magnetized graphene exhibits the highest third-order optical nonlinearity among known materials, enabling efficient nonlinear frequency conversion even with a single monolayer, due to its unique electronic properties.

Contribution

The authors develop a quantum-mechanical density-matrix formalism to calculate the nonlinear optical response of magnetized graphene under strong fields, revealing its exceptional nonlinearity.

Findings

Magnetized graphene has the highest third-order nonlinearity among known materials.

A single monolayer of graphene can achieve significant nonlinear frequency conversion.

The giant nonlinearity is due to electronic properties and selection rules near the Dirac point.

Abstract

We present quantum-mechanical density-matrix formalism for calculating the nonlinear optical response of magnetized graphene, valid for arbitrarily strong magnetic and optical fields. We show that magnetized graphene possesses by far the highest third-order optical nonlinearity among all known materials. The giant nonlinearity originates from unique electronic properties and selection rules near the Dirac point. As a result, even one monolayer of graphene gives rise to appreciable nonlinear frequency conversion efficiency for incident infrared radiation.