Anomalous shift and optical vorticity in the steady photovoltaic current

Light can be rectified to a direct current by inducing real-space displacements (shifts) of quasiparticles. While the shift due to photon absorption (s0{0ex}h0{0ex}i0{0ex}f0{0ex}t0{0ex}e0{0ex}x0{0ex}c) has received the prevailing attention, shifts due to intraband relaxation and interband recombination have been overlooked in recent decades. Here, the authors demonstrate that these shifts have a quantum geometric origin and can surpass s0{0ex}h0{0ex}i0{0ex}f0{0ex}t0{0ex}e0{0ex}x0{0ex}c by orders of magnitude. The theory is applied to a case study of the three-dimensional semiconductor BiTeI.