Raman Photogalvanic Effect: photocurrent at inelastic light scattering

Abstract

We show theoretically that electromagnetic waves propagating in the transparency region of a non-centrosymmetric medium can induce a dc electric current. The origin of the effect is the Raman scattering of light by free carriers in the system. Due to the photon scattering, electrons undergo real quantum transitions resulting in the formation of their anisotropic momentum distribution and in shifts of electronic wavepackets giving rise to a steady state photocurrent. We present microscopic theory of the Raman Photogalvanic effect (RPGE) focusing on two specific situations: (i) generic case of a bulk gyrotropic semiconductor and (ii) a quantum well structure where the light is scattered by intersubband excitations. We uncover the relation of the predicted RPGE and the traditional photogalvanic effect at the light absorption.