Higher harmonics in Mott-Hubbard insulators as sensors

Abstract

Using strong-coupling time-dependent perturbation theory, we study the response of Mott and charge-transfer insulators to an oscillating electric field. We derive analytical expressions for the resulting higher-harmonic currents and show that they encode information about spin order and microscopic hopping pathways. The results demonstrate that higher harmonics can serve as probes of correlated materials and as sensors of the applied driving field.