Role of inter- and intraband current in laser interaction with bi-chromatic quasi-periodic crystals

Abstract

We study the role of the inter- and intraband current in the laser interaction with the bi-chromatic quasi-periodic crystals. The interaction dynamics are simulated by solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation in the $k$-space, and time evolution of the inter- and intraband current is obtained in a gauge invariant form. We observed that for certain bi-chromatic potential ratios, the energy band structure of the `valence band' and the `conduction band' facilitate the interband transitions only at the center or at the edge of the Brillouin zone, which leads to a very interesting population transfer mechanism between the bands. The temporal profile of the inter- and intraband current gives a detailed account of the interaction. The higher-order harmonic generation (HHG) is also studied for these bi-chromatic optical lattices, and the resultant harmonic yield is commented upon.