Inverse Faraday effect in graphene and Weyl semimetals

We report systematic theoretical studies of the inverse Faraday effect in materials with massless Dirac fermions, both in two dimensions such as graphene and surface states in topological insulators, and in three dimensions such as Dirac and Weyl semimetals. Both semiclassical and quantum theories are presented, with dissipation and finite-size effects included. We find that the magnitude of the effect can be much stronger in Dirac materials as compared to conventional semiconductors. Analytic expressions for the optically induced magnetization in the low-temperature limit are obtained. Strong inverse Faraday effect in Dirac materials can be used for the optical control of magnetization, all-optical modulation, and optical isolation.