Spatially dispersive circular photogalvanic effect in a Weyl semimetal

Abstract: Weyl semimetals are gapless topological states of matter with broken inversion and/or time reversal symmetry, which can support unconventional responses to externally applied electrical, optical and magnetic fields. Here we report a new photogalvanic effect in type-II WSMs, MoTe2 and Mo0.9W0.1Te2, which are observed to support a circulating photocurrent when illuminated by circularly polarized light at normal incidence. This effect occurs exclusively in the inversion broken phase, where crucially we find that it is associated with a spatially varying beam profile via a new dispersive contribution to the circular photogalvanic effect (s-CPGE). The response functions derived for s-CPGE reveal the microscopic mechanism of this photocurrent, which are controlled by terms that are allowed in the absence of inversion symmetry, along with asymmetric carrier excitation and relaxation. By evaluating this response for a minimal model of a Weyl semimetal, we obtain the frequency dependent scaling behavior of this form of photocurrent. These results demonstrate opportunities for controlling photoresponse by patterning optical fields to store, manipulate and transmit information over a wide spectral range.