# Probing structural chirality of crystals using high harmonic generation in solids

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that high harmonic generation spectroscopy can effectively probe the structural chirality and lattice symmetry of crystals like tellurium, revealing circular dichroism effects linked to chirality.

## Contribution

The study introduces a first-principles method to detect crystal chirality and symmetry using high harmonic generation, providing an all-optical characterization tool.

## Key findings

- Circular dichroism signals depend on crystal chirality.
- High harmonic spectra can determine crystal orientation.
- Method applicable to other chiral solids.

## Abstract

Structural chirality plays an important role in solid state physics and leads to a variety of novel physics. The feasibility of probing structural chirality of crystals using high harmonic generation in solids is explored in this work. Through first-principles calculations based on the time-dependent density functional theory framework, we demonstrate that evident circular dichroism (CD) effects can be induced in the high harmonic spectra from a chiral crystal -- bulk tellurium. The CD signal reverses for crystals with opposite structural chirality. Besides, the high harmonic spectroscopy also provides an all-optical method for probing lattice symmetry properties and determining orientation of the tellurium crystal.