Circular photon drag effect in bulk tellurium

TL;DR

This paper reports the observation and analysis of the circular photon drag effect in bulk tellurium, demonstrating how light's angular and translational momentum transfer generates photocurrent, with theoretical models matching experimental results.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental observation of the circular photon drag effect in bulk tellurium and develops microscopic models for intra- and inter-subband optical absorption.

Findings

Photocurrent depends on light polarization and incidence angle.

The effect decreases with increasing photon energy.

Theoretical estimates align with experimental data.

Abstract

The circular photon drag effect is observed in a bulk semiconductor. The photocurrent caused by a transfer of both translational and angular momenta of light to charge carriers is detected in tellurium in the mid-infrared frequency range. Dependencies of the photocurrent on the light polarization and on the incidence angle agree with the symmetry analysis of the circular photon drag effect. Microscopic models of the effect are developed for both intra- and inter-subband optical absorption in the valence band of tellurium. The shift contribution to the circular photon drag current is calculated. An observed decrease of the circular photon drag current with increase of the photon energy is explained by the theory for inter-subband optical transitions. Theoretical estimates of the circular photon drag current agree with the experimental data.