Photoinduced Inverse Spin Hall Effect of Surface States in the Topological Insulator Bi₂Se₃

Abstract

The three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) Bi₂Se₃ exhibits topologically protected, linearly dispersing Dirac surface states (SSs). To access the intriguing properties of these SSs, it is important to distinguish them from the coexisting two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) on the surface. Here, we use circularly polarized light to induce the inverse spin Hall effect in a Bi₂Se₃ thin film at different temperatures (i.e., from 77 to 300 K). It is demonstrated that the photoinduced inverse spin Hall effect (PISHE) of the top SSs and the 2DEG can be separated based on their opposite signs. The temperature and power dependence of the PISHE also confirms our method. Furthermore, it is found that the PISHE in the 2DEG is dominated by the extrinsic mechanism, as revealed by the temperature dependence of the PISHE.