Light-induced nonconservative static forces in many-body systems

Abstract

In a quantum many-body system, a periodic drive can often generate effective static forces on the slow collective degrees of freedom. We study the static forces generated by light on electronic order parameters in solid-state systems. We show that the forces can have nonconservative components that originate from dissipation, i.e., optical absorption. This effect is demonstrated in two nontrivial examples. In excitonic insulators, via interband excitations, the light field generates a nonconservative force on the phase of the excitonic order parameter. This force leads to an acceleration of the phase, which manifests as a shift of the photon emission peak from an exciton condensate. In materials with an incommensurate charge density wave, a propagating light field generates a nonconservative force on the phase of its order parameter. It drives the charge density wave into sliding motion, leading to a DC electric current via topological Thouless pumping.