Photoelectron spin polarization in the Bi2Te3(0001) topological insulator: Initial- and final-state effects in the photoemission process.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Seibel, Christoph; Braun, Jürgen; Maaß, Henriette; Bentmann, Hendrik; Minár, Jan; Kuznetsova, Tatyana V.; Kokh, Konstantin A.; Tereshchenko, Oleg E.; Taichi Okuda; Ebert, Hubert; Reinert, Friedrich
- Source
- Physical Review B. Jun2016, Vol. 93 Issue 24, p1-1. 1p.
- Subject
- *BISMUTH telluride
*ELECTRON spin polarization
*TOPOLOGICAL insulators
- Language
- ISSN
- 2469-9950
The photoelectron spin polarization in angle-resolved photoemission from the topological surface state in Bi2Te3(0001) has been investigated in a combined experimental and theoretical study. Our measurements show significant photon-energy-dependent deviations in the three-dimensional spin polarization of the photoelectron when compared to the expected intrinsic spin polarization of the surface state. The experimental observations are in line with relativistic one-step photoemission calculations. Our theoretical analysis confirms that spin-orbit coupling in the initial-state wave functions in combination with the dipole selection rules strongly influences the photoelectron spin polarization. Furthermore, spin-dependent final-state effects are found to influence the spin polarization significantly. A quantitative access to the three-dimensional spin-polarization vector in topological insulators is thus challenged by a complex interplay of initial- and final-state effects in the photoemission process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]