Abstract

While spin currents carry the electrons’ spin angular momentum, their orbital magnetization is carried by the orbital angular momentum current, which has attracted considerable attention recently. The first project goal is to provide a rigorous definition of these currents and analyze their role in magneto-optical effects. The second goal is to develop ab initio techniques for computing transition dipoles in topological surfaces, enabling the simulation of laser-driven electron and spin dynamics. These efforts aim to provide insight into ultrafast phenomena such as Landau-Zener tunneling at Dirac points.