Floquet chiral edge states in graphene

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that laser irradiation can induce tunable chiral edge states in graphene, enabling control over their properties and propagation direction, thus opening avenues for non-equilibrium topological state engineering.

Contribution

It provides analytical and numerical insights into laser-induced Floquet topological states in graphene, highlighting their tunability and potential applications.

Findings

Laser intensity controls edge state velocity and decay length.

Changing laser polarization switches propagation direction.

Graphene can host non-equilibrium topological states with tunable properties.

Abstract

We report on the emergence of laser-induced chiral edge states in graphene ribbons. Insights on the nature of these Floquet states is provided by an analytical solution which is complemented with numerical simulations of the transport properties. Guided by these results we show that graphene can be used for realizing non-equilibrium topological states with striking tunability: While the laser intensity can be used to control their velocity and decay length, changing the laser polarization switches their propagation direction.