Ellipticity control of terahertz high-harmonic generation in a Dirac semimetal

We report on terahertz high-harmonic generation in a Dirac semimetal as a function of the driving-pulse ellipticity and on a theoretical study of the field-driven intraband kinetics of massless Dirac fermions. Very efficient control of the third-harmonic yield and polarization state is achieved in electron-doped Cd₃As₂ thin films at room temperature. The observed tunability is understood as resulting from terahertz-field-driven intraband kinetics of the Dirac fermions. Our study paves the way for exploiting the nonlinear optical properties of Dirac matter for applications in signal processing and optical communications.