TY - JOUR
T1 - Spin-momentum locked interaction between guided photons and surface electrons in topological insulators
AU - Luo, Siyuan
AU - He, Li
AU - Li, Mo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - The propagation of electrons and photons can respectively have the spin-momentum locking effect which correlates spin with linear momentum. For surface electrons in three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs), their spin is locked to the transport direction. Analogously, photons in optical waveguides carry transverse spin angular momentum which is also locked to the propagation direction. A direct connection between electron and photon spins occurs in TIs due to spin-dependent selection rules of optical transitions. Here we demonstrate an optoelectronic device that integrates a TI with a photonic waveguide. Interaction between photons in the waveguide and surface electrons in a Bi2Se3 layer generates a directional, spin-polarized photocurrent. Because of spin-momentum locking, changing light propagation direction reverses photon spin and thus the direction of the photocurrent. Our device represents a way of implementing coupled spin-orbit interaction between electrons and photons and may lead to applications in opto-spintronics and quantum information processing.
AB - The propagation of electrons and photons can respectively have the spin-momentum locking effect which correlates spin with linear momentum. For surface electrons in three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs), their spin is locked to the transport direction. Analogously, photons in optical waveguides carry transverse spin angular momentum which is also locked to the propagation direction. A direct connection between electron and photon spins occurs in TIs due to spin-dependent selection rules of optical transitions. Here we demonstrate an optoelectronic device that integrates a TI with a photonic waveguide. Interaction between photons in the waveguide and surface electrons in a Bi2Se3 layer generates a directional, spin-polarized photocurrent. Because of spin-momentum locking, changing light propagation direction reverses photon spin and thus the direction of the photocurrent. Our device represents a way of implementing coupled spin-orbit interaction between electrons and photons and may lead to applications in opto-spintronics and quantum information processing.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-017-02264-y
DO - 10.1038/s41467-017-02264-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 29247165
AN - SCOPUS:85038216360
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 8
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 2141
ER -