Dimensionality-Driven Photoproduction of Massive Dirac Pairs near Threshold in Gapped Graphene Monolayers

Abstract

Generation of quasiparticle-hole pairs in gapped graphene monolayers in the combined field of two counterpropagating light waves is studied. The process represents an analog of electron-positron pair production from the vacuum of quantum electrodynamics (QED) by the Breit-Wheeler effect. We show, however, that the two-dimensional structure of graphene causes some striking differences between both scenarios. In particular, contrary to the QED case, it allows for nonzero pair production rates at the energy threshold when the Breit-Wheeler reaction proceeds nonlinearly with absorption of three photons.