Torsion-induced confinement and tunable nonlinear optical gain in a mesoscopic electron system

TL;DR

This paper explores how torsion and topological defects in mesoscopic electron systems can induce confinement and enable tunable nonlinear optical gain, with potential applications in nanophotonics.

Contribution

It provides exact analytical solutions showing how torsion and magnetic fields create confinement and optical gain in mesoscopic systems, a novel approach for optical control.

Findings

Torsion and defects increase interlevel spacing and compress electron distribution.

Nonlinear absorption can surpass linear absorption, enabling negative-absorption regimes.

Optical spectra become asymmetric and state-resolved due to combined effects.

Abstract

We investigate the optical response of a conduction electron in a helically twisted mesoscopic medium containing a screw dislocation and a uniform torsional background, in the presence of an axial magnetic field and an Aharonov--Bohm flux. We show that the coupling between longitudinal motion and the geometric background produces an effective in-plane confinement, allowing bound states to emerge without the need for an external radial potential. Exact analytical solutions are obtained for the energy spectrum and radial wave functions, and these results are used to evaluate linear and third-order nonlinear absorption, changes in the refractive index, the photoionization cross section, and the oscillator strength. The combined action of torsion, magnetic field, and topological defect increases the interlevel spacing, compresses the radial electronic distribution, and breaks the dynamical symmetry between opposite angular-momentum channels, leading to strongly asymmetric and state-resolved optical spectra. Under intense optical excitation, the nonlinear contribution can overcome linear absorption, driving the system into a negative-absorption regime and enabling geometry-controlled optical gain. These results establish torsion and defect engineering as effective tools for tuning confinement, resonant energies, and selective amplification in mesoscopic nanophotonic platforms operating in the mid-infrared and terahertz ranges.