The control of physical properties of solids with short laser pulses is anintriguing prospect of ultrafast materials science. Continuous-wavehigh-frequency laser driving with circular polarization was predicted to inducea light-matter coupled new state possessing a quasi-static band structure withan energy gap and a quantum Hall effect, coined "Floquet topologicalinsulator". Whereas the envisioned Floquet topological insulator requires wellseparated Floquet bands and therefore high-frequency pumping, a naturalfollow-up question regards the creation of Floquet-like states in graphene withrealistic pump laser pulses. Here we predict that with short low-frequencylaser pulses attainable in pump-probe experiments, states with local spectralgaps at the Dirac points and novel pseudospin textures can be achieved ingraphene using circular light polarization. We demonstrate that time- andangle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy can track these states by measuringsizeable energy gaps and quasi-Floquet energy bands that form on femtosecondtime scales. By analyzing Floquet energy level crossings and snapshots ofpseudospin textures near the Dirac points, we identify transitions to newstates with optically induced nontrivial changes of sublattice mixing that canlead to Berry curvature corrections of electrical transport and magnetization.
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