Dirac bands in the topological insulator Bi2Se3 mapped by time-resolved momentum microscopy

TL;DR

This study uses time-resolved momentum microscopy to map the Dirac bands of Bi2Se3, revealing momentum-dependent evolution and agreement with theoretical models, and investigates the dynamics of surface state populations after photoexcitation.

Contribution

First application of laser-based time-resolved momentum microscopy to map unoccupied Dirac states in Bi2Se3 at large momenta, validating theoretical models and exploring surface-bulk state dynamics.

Findings

Observed momentum-dependent evolution of Dirac states into conduction band resonance.

Found strong agreement between experimental data and GW-corrected tight-binding model.

Identified a multi-picosecond timescale for surface state population dynamics.

Abstract

We have studied the energy dispersion of the Dirac bands of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 at large parallel momenta using a setup for laser-based time-resolved momentum microscopy with 6 eV probe-photons. Using this setup, we can probe the manifold of unoccupied states up to higher intermediate-state energies in a wide momentum window. We observe a strongly momentum-dependent evolution of the topologically protected Dirac states into a conduction band resonance, highlighting the anisotropy dictated by the surface symmetry. Our results are in remarkable agreement with the theoretical surface spectrum obtained from a GW-corrected tight-binding model, suggesting the validity of the approach in the prediction of the quasiparticle excitation spectrum of large systems with non-trivial topology. After photoexcitation with 0.97 eV photons, assigned to a bulk valence band-conduction band transition, the out-of-equilibrium population of the surface state evolves on a multi-picosecond time scale, in agreement with a simple thermodynamical model with a fixed number of particles, suggesting a significant decoupling between bulk and surface states.