Shining strong, linearly polarized light on a crystal might be expected to cause conduction electrons to whip back and forth in response to the light’s oscillating electric field. But if the crystal structure breaks certain symmetries, a net flow of electrons can arise in one direction. The recipe for creating such photocurrents was thought to require an exotic band structure, the application of a magnetic field, or both. Now Yuichiro Ando of Kyoto University in Japan and his collaborators have observed a photocurrent in films made of single-element, nonmagnetic metals [1].
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