Lightwave-controlled electron dynamics in graphene

Abstract

We demonstrate that currents induced in graphene by ultrashort laser pulses are sensitive to the exact shape of the electric-field waveform. By increasing the field strength, we found a transition of the light–matter interaction from the weak-field to the strong-field regime at around 2 V/nm, where intraband dynamics influence interband transitions. In this strong-field regime, the light-matter interaction can be described by the wavenumber trajectories of electrons in the reciprocal space. For linearly polarized light the electron dynamics are governed by repeated sub-optical-cycle Landau-Zener transitions between the valence- and conduction band, resulting in Landau-Zener-Stuckelberg interference, whereas for circular polarized light this interference is supressed.