Floquet dynamics in two-dimensional semi-Dirac semimetals and three-dimensional Dirac semimetals

TL;DR

This paper investigates how off-resonant circularly polarized light affects the electronic properties of 2D semi-Dirac and 3D Dirac semimetals, revealing distinct gap behaviors and tunable topological phases.

Contribution

It demonstrates that light does not open a gap in 2D semi-Dirac semimetals but enables tuning between trivial insulator and Dirac semimetal phases in 3D, proposing a platform for Dirac point manipulation.

Findings

Light does not open a gap in 2D semi-Dirac semimetals.

Circularly polarized light can induce a topological phase transition in 3D Dirac semimetals.

Application of light allows generation, motion, and merging of 3D Dirac points.

Abstract

We study the photoresponse of two-dimensional semi-Dirac semimetals and three-dimensional Dirac semimetals to off-resonant circularly polarized light. For two-dimensional semi-Dirac semimetals we find that incident light does not open a gap in the spectrum, in contrast to the case of purely linear dispersion. For the three-dimensional case we find that applying a circularly polarized light, one can tune from a trivial insulator to three-dimensional Dirac semimetal with an inverted gap. We propose and show that application of light leads to an intriguing platform for generation, motion and merging of three-dimensional Dirac points.