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Updated: May 26, 2026

Experimental Methods for Spin- and Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Combined with Polarization-Variable Laser
Published on: June 28, 2018
Observation of a warped helical spin texture in Bi2Se3 from circular dichroism angle-resolved photoemission
1Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, USA.
Abstract:
A differential coupling of topological surface states to left- versus right-circularly polarized light is the basis of many optospintronics applications of topological insulators. Here we report direct evidence of circular dichroism from the surface states of Bi(2)Se(3) using laser-based time-of-flight angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. By employing a novel sample rotational analysis, we resolve unusual modulations in the circular dichroism photoemission pattern as a function of both energy and momentum, which perfectly mimic the predicted but hitherto unobserved three-dimensional warped spin texture of the surface states. By developing a microscopic theory of photoemission from topological surface states, we show that this correlation is a natural consequence of spin-orbit coupling. These results suggest that our technique may be a powerful probe of the spin texture of spin-orbit coupled materials in general.
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