Circular photogalvanic effect on topological insulator surfaces: Berry-curvature-dependent response

被引:201
作者
Hosur, Pavan [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Phys, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
来源
PHYSICAL REVIEW B | 2011年 / 83卷 / 03期
关键词
SINGLE DIRAC CONE; SPIN RELAXATION; QUANTUM-WELLS; STATES; BI2TE3;
D O I
10.1103/PhysRevB.83.035309
中图分类号
T [工业技术];
学科分类号
08 ;
摘要
We study theoretically the optical response of the surface states of a topological insulator, especially the generation of helicity-dependent direct current by circularly polarized light. Interestingly, the dominant current, due to an interband transition, is controlled by the Berry curvature of the surface bands. This extends the connection between photocurrents and Berry curvature beyond the quasiclassical approximation, where it has been shown to hold. Explicit expressions are derived for the (111) surface of the topological insulator Bi2Se3, where we find significant helicity-dependent photocurrents when the rotational symmetry of the surface is broken by an in-plane magnetic field or a strain. Moreover, the dominant current grows linearly with time until a scattering occurs, which provides a means for determining the scattering time. The dc spin generated on the surface is also dominated by a linear-in-time, Berry curvature-dependent contribution.
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页数:7
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