Edge-state and bulk-like laser-induced correlation effects in high-harmonic generation from a linear chain

TL;DR

This paper investigates how laser-induced electron correlations, especially edge-state and bulk-like effects, influence high-harmonic generation in a linear chain model, providing guidelines on when these effects are significant.

Contribution

It identifies regimes where laser-induced correlation effects significantly alter HHG and offers a framework to determine when these effects must be considered.

Findings

Edge-state effects diminish with increasing system size

Bulk-like effects remain regardless of system size

Correlation effects can change harmonic yield by an order of magnitude

Abstract

We explore the significance of laser-induced correlation effects for high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in a linear chain model of a generic band gap material for both single-IR-pulse and VUV-pump--IR-probe HHG schemes. We examine various pump-pulse excitations, and catagorize signatures of laser-induced correlation effects into two classes related to edge-state and bulk-like effects. The relative importance of the edge-state effects decrease with increasing system-size, while the bulk-like effects remain. We identify regimes where these effects may alter the harmonic yield by an order of magnitude, but also regions where they may be neglected. We characterize the underlying laser-induced dynamics of the correlational mechanisms, using both an electronic population-description in a static field-free basis, and comparing to a bandstructure-picture with laser-induced time-dependent energy shifts. From this we provide a guideline on when to account for laser-induced electron correlations and give an estimate of the time-scale in which the laser-induced electron-electron interactions can cause correlational changes in the harmonic spectra. We find this timescale to be a few tens of femtoseconds.