Theory of shift current in Anderson insulator

Abstract: Shift current is a photovoltaic current in bulk noncentrosymmetric insulator. Studies on shift current have so far focused on the extended Bloch waves, such as in semiconductors and perovskites. In contrast, it is unknown whether the localized wavefunctions support the dc photocurrent. Here, we show theoretically that the dc shift current appears in a noncentrosymmetric disordered one-dimensional insulator with random potential. When the light illuminates the entire sample, the photocurrent forms in presence of the electron-phonon coupling. We find this photocurrent remains robustly even when the energy scale of random potential is larger than the bandwidth. On the other hand, the photocurrent decays exponentially when the excitation is local, or the relaxation is only due to the contact with the electrodes. These results open a route to design high-efficiency solar cells and photodetectors.