Surface photoelectric effect by twisted photons as a source of twisted electrons

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for the surface photoelectric effect induced by twisted photons, identifying conditions to generate pure twisted electron sources using specific materials at low temperatures.

Contribution

It provides explicit formulas for twisted photoelectron probability and identifies material conditions for pure twisted electron emission.

Findings

Lightly doped n-InSb crystals at below 2.5 K can produce twisted electrons.

Dirac and Weyl semimetals at temperatures below 60 K can serve as sources of twisted electrons.

Conditions for using surface photoelectric effect as a pure twisted electron source are established.

Abstract

The theory of surface photoelectric effect by twisted photons is developed. The explicit expression for the probability to record a twisted photoelectron is derived. The conditions when the surface photoelectric effect can be used as a pure source of twisted electrons are found. It is shown that the lightly doped n-InSb crystal with interface without defects at temperatures lower than $2.5$ K satisfies these conditions. The Dirac and Weyl semimetals with electron chemical potential near the top of the Dirac cone obey these conditions at temperatures lower than $60$ K and can also be employed for design of pure sources of twisted electrons by the photoelectric effect.