Light control of surface–bulk coupling by terahertz vibrational coherence in a topological insulator

Yang, Xu; Luo, Liang; Vaswani, Chirag; Zhao, Xin; Yao, Yongxin; Cheng, Di; Liu, Zhaoyu; Kim, Richard H.  J.; Liu, Xinyu; Dobrowolska-Furdyna, Malgorzata; Furdyna, Jacek K.; Perakis, Ilias E.; Wang, Caizhuang; Ho, Kaiming; Wang, Jigang

doi:10.1038/s41535-020-0215-7

Title: Light control of surface–bulk coupling by terahertz vibrational coherence in a topological insulator

Journal Article · 18 February 2020 · npj Quantum Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-0215-7 · OSTI ID:1602054

^[1]; Luo, Liang ^[1];

^[1];

^[1]; Yao, Yongxin ^[1]; Cheng, Di ^[1]; Liu, Zhaoyu ^[1];

^[1]; Liu, Xinyu ^[2]; Dobrowolska-Furdyna, Malgorzata ^[2]; Furdyna, Jacek K. ^[2]; Perakis, Ilias E. ^[3]; Wang, Caizhuang ^[1]; Ho, Kaiming ^[1];

^[1]

Ames Lab., and Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States)
Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, AL (United States)

The demand for disorder-tolerant quantum logic and spin electronics can be met by generating and controlling dissipationless spin currents protected by topology. Dirac fermions with helical spin-locking surface transport offer a way of achieving such a goal. Yet, surface-bulk coupling can lead to strong Dirac electron scattering with bulk carriers and phonons as well as impurities, assisted by such dissipative channel, which results in “topological breakdown”. Here, we demonstrate that coherent lattice vibrations periodically driven by a single-cycle terahertz (THz) pulse can significantly suppress such dissipative channel in topological insulators. This is achieved by reducing the phase space in the bulk available for Dirac fermion scattering into during coherent lattice oscillations in Bi₂Se₃. This light-induced suppression manifests as a remarkable transition exclusively in surface transport, absent for bulk, above the THz electric fields for driving coherent phonons, which prolongs the surface transport lifetime. These results, together with simulations, identify the critical role of spin–orbit coupling for the “phase space contraction” mechanism that suppresses the surface-bulk coupling. Imposing vibrational quantum coherence into topological states of matter may become a universal light control principle for reinforcing the symmetry-protected helical transport.

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Research Organization:: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States); Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, AL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11358; SC0019137

OSTI ID:: 1602054

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1971743

Report Number(s):: IS-J-10166

Journal Information:: npj Quantum Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 1; ISSN 2397-4648

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 36 works

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