Coherent magneto-optical effects in topological insulators: Excitation near the absorption edge

2016/05/13 by Wang-Kong Tse
Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Dephasing #Electric field #Excitation #Faraday cage #Faraday effect #Field (mathematics) #Kerr effect #Magnetic field #Nonlinear system #Physics #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Symmetry (geometry) #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Topological insulator #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.94.125430

published as Phys. Rev. B 94, 125430 (2016) · 9 pages, 10 figures. Typos corrected

arxiv created 2016/05/13 · openalex publication_date 2016/09/21 · arxiv updated 2016/09/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We study coherent optics in topological insulator surface states with broken time-reversal symmetry and develop a theory for the dynamical Hall effect driven by an intense electromagnetic field. The influence of the optical Stark effect enters as a nonlinear dependence on the optical field in the resulting Faraday \ensuremathθ_F and Kerr \ensuremathθ_K rotations. This nonlinear correction is found to decrease \ensuremathθ_F with the strength of the a.c. electric field, whereas \ensuremathθ_K exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior. We also discuss the effects of relaxation and dephasing on the Hall and magneto-optical responses when the frequency detuning is comparable to the inverse lifetime of the conduction electrons.

Citations

• Topological field theory of time-reversal invariant insulators
• Z2classification of quantum spin Hall systems: An approach using time-reversal invariance
• Topological insulators and superconductors
• Topological Insulators
• High-Resolution Faraday Rotation and Electron-Phonon Coupling in Surface States of the Bulk-Insulating Topological InsulatorCu0.02Bi2Se3
• Observation of topological Faraday and Kerr rotations in quantum anomalous Hall state by terahertz magneto-optics