
Some materials are transparent to light of a certain frequency. When such light is shone on them, electrical currents can still be generated, contrary to previous assumptions. Scientists from Leipzig University and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have managed to prove this. "This opens new paradigms for constructing opto-electronic and photovoltaic devices, such as light amplifiers, sensors and solar cells," says Inti Sodemann Villadiego, Professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at Leipzig University. The scientists have published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters.
"It is possible to drive electric currents by light even when the material has a vanishingly small absorption of such light. This is an important new insight," adds his colleague Li-kun Shi.

"In our publication, we explain several properties of these fluid states," says Professor Sodemann Villadiego. "To study them, we had to develop detailed theoretical models of complex states of electrons shaken by light, which is far from easy." After the publication in Physical Review Letters, the four researchers - including Sodemann Villadiego from Leipzig University and his colleague Li-kun Shi - received a special honour: a separate article highlighting their research was published by the popular physics news website Phys.org.
Paper in Physical Review Letters: "Floquet Fermi Liquid" , DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.146402