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Ultrafast photocurrents at the surface of the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi2Se3

Author

Listed:
  • Lukas Braun

    (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society)

  • Gregor Mussler

    (PGI-9 and JARA-FIT, Forschungszentrum Jülich)

  • Andrzej Hruban

    (Institute of Electronic Materials Technology)

  • Marcin Konczykowski

    (Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay)

  • Thomas Schumann

    (Institut für Physik, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald)

  • Martin Wolf

    (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society)

  • Markus Münzenberg

    (Institut für Physik, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald)

  • Luca Perfetti

    (Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay)

  • Tobias Kampfrath

    (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society)

Abstract

Three-dimensional topological insulators are fascinating materials with insulating bulk yet metallic surfaces that host highly mobile charge carriers with locked spin and momentum. Remarkably, surface currents with tunable direction and magnitude can be launched with tailored light beams. To better understand the underlying mechanisms, the current dynamics need to be resolved on the timescale of elementary scattering events (∼10 fs). Here, we excite and measure photocurrents in the model topological insulator Bi2Se3 with a time resolution of 20 fs by sampling the concomitantly emitted broadband terahertz (THz) electromagnetic field from 0.3 to 40 THz. Strikingly, the surface current response is dominated by an ultrafast charge transfer along the Se–Bi bonds. In contrast, photon-helicity-dependent photocurrents are found to be orders of magnitude smaller than expected from generation scenarios based on asymmetric depopulation of the Dirac cone. Our findings are of direct relevance for broadband optoelectronic devices based on topological-insulator surface currents.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukas Braun & Gregor Mussler & Andrzej Hruban & Marcin Konczykowski & Thomas Schumann & Martin Wolf & Markus Münzenberg & Luca Perfetti & Tobias Kampfrath, 2016. "Ultrafast photocurrents at the surface of the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi2Se3," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13259
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13259
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhouxiaosong Zeng & Zhiqiang Tian & Yufan Wang & Cuihuan Ge & Fabian Strauß & Kai Braun & Patrick Michel & Lanyu Huang & Guixian Liu & Dong Li & Marcus Scheele & Mingxing Chen & Anlian Pan & Xiao Wang, 2024. "Dual polarization-enabled ultrafast bulk photovoltaic response in van der Waals heterostructures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Wei Lu & Zipu Fan & Yunkun Yang & Junchao Ma & Jiawei Lai & Xiaoming Song & Xiao Zhuo & Zhaoran Xu & Jing Liu & Xiaodong Hu & Shuyun Zhou & Faxian Xiu & Jinluo Cheng & Dong Sun, 2022. "Ultrafast photothermoelectric effect in Dirac semimetallic Cd3As2 revealed by terahertz emission," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.

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