Lightwave control of many-body interaction-driven petahertz photocurrent

Light-field-driven currents sensitive to pulse waveforms have established a promising foundation for the realization of petahertz (PHz) electronic devices. However, the influence of many-body interactions on photocurrent generation remains inadequately understood. Here, we theoretically investigate photocurrent generation in monolayer $\mathrm{Mo}{\mathrm{S}}₂$, highlighting the essential role of many-body effect on carrier dynamics and the optoelectronic response. We demonstrate that photocurrents depend critically on the electric-field waveform controlled by the carrier-envelope phase, and we reveal a distinct signature of multielectron interactions manifested as destructive interference of the maximum current with increasing field strength, due to specific intraband Coulomb scattering processes that can induce a primary band energy renormalization. Additionally, we propose an optical switch based on two orthogonally linearly polarized laser pulses with a controlled delay, capable of achieving current modulation at frequencies approaching 1 PHz. We present a strategy for constructing logic gates and emphasize the critical role of many-body interactions in the implementation of their functionality encoding. This optical switch also provides an all-electronic method to measure dephasing time on femtosecond timescales. Our findings deepen the understanding of many-body effects in petahertz electronics and facilitate the development of ultrafast optoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional materials.