Helicity-dependent ultrafast spin current generated by circularly polarized photons in topological materials holds the crux to many technological improvements, such as quantum communications, on-chip communication processing and storage. Here, we present the manipulation of helicity-dependent terahertz emission generated in a nodal line semimetal candidate Mg3Bi2 by using photon polarization states. The terahertz emission is mainly ascribed to the helicity-dependent photocurrent that is originated from circular photogalvanic effects, and the helicity-independent photocurrent that is attributed to linear photogalvanic effect. Our work will inspire more explorations into novel nodal line semimetals and open up new opportunities for developing ultrafast optoelectronics in the topological system.
Home > Journal Home > Opto-Electronic Advances
Opto-Electronic Advances
ISSN: 2096-4579
CN: 51-1781/TN
Opto-Electronic Advances is the open-access journal providing rapid publication for peer-reviewed articles that emphasize scientific and technology innovations in all aspects of optics and opto-electronics.
CN: 51-1781/TN
Opto-Electronic Advances is the open-access journal providing rapid publication for peer-reviewed articles that emphasize scientific and technology innovations in all aspects of optics and opto-electronics.
Helicity-dependent THz emission induced by ultrafast spin photocurrent in nodal-line semimetal candidate Mg3Bi2
Author Affiliations

First published at:Dec 24, 2020
Abstract
References
1. Lodahl P, Mahmoodian S, Stobbe S, Rauschenbeutel A, Schneeweiss P et al. Chiral quantum optics. Nature 541, 473–480 (2017).
2. Kampfrath T, Sell A, Klatt G, Pashkin A, Mährlein S et al. Coherent terahertz control of antiferromagnetic spin waves. Nat Photonics 5, 31–34 (2011).
3. Wolf S A, Awschalom D D, Buhrman R A, Daughton J M, von Molnár S et al. Spintronics: a spin-based electronics vision for the future. Science 294, 1488–1495 (2001).
4. Ferguson B, Zhang X C. Materials for terahertz science and technology. Nat Mater 1, 26–33 (2002).
5. McIver J W, Hsieh D, Steinberg H, Jarillo-Herrero P, Gedik N. Control over topological insulator photocurrents with light polarization. Nat Nanotechnol 7, 96–100 (2012).
6. Braun L, Mussler G, Hruban A, Konczykowski M, Schumann T et al. Ultrafast photocurrents at the surface of the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi2Se3. Nat Commun 7, 13259 (2016).
7. Gao Y, Kaushik S, Philip E J, Li Z, Qin Y et al. Chiral terahertz wave emission from the Weyl semimetal TaAs. Nat Commun 11, 720 (2020).
8. Zhang Z L, Chen Y P, Cui S, He F, Chen M et al. Manipulation of polarizations for broadband terahertz waves emitted from laser plasma filaments. Nat Photonics 12, 554–559 (2018).
9. Burkov A A, Hook M D, Balents L. Topological nodal semimetals. Phys Rev B 84, 235126 (2011).
10. Fang C, Chen Y G, Kee H Y, Fu L. Topological nodal line semimetals with and without spin-orbital coupling. Phys Rev B 92, 081201 (2015).
11. Bian G, Chang T R, Sankar R, Xu S Y, Zheng H et al. Topological nodal-line fermions in spin-orbit metal PbTaSe2. Nat Commun 7, 10556 (2016).
12. Bian G, Chang T R, Zheng H, Velury S, Xu S Y et al. Drumhead surface states and topological nodal-line fermions in TlTaSe2. Phys Rev B 93, 121113 (2016).
13. Yang S Y, Yang H, Derunova E, Parkin S S P, Yan B H et al. Symmetry demanded topological nodal-line materials. Adv Phys: X 3, 1414631 (2018).
14. Yu R, Weng H M, Fang Z, Dai X, Hu X. Topological node-line semimetal and dirac semimetal state in antiperovskite Cu3PdN. Phys Rev Lett 115, 036807 (2015).
15. Wu Y, Wang L L, Mun E, Johnson D D, Mou D X et al. Dirac node arcs in PtSn4. Nat Phys 12, 667–671 (2016).
16. Chang T R, Pletikosic I, Kong T, Bian G, Huang A et al. Realization of a type-II nodal-line semimetal in Mg3Bi2. Adv Sci 6, 1800897 (2019).
17. Mao J, Zhu H T, Ding Z W, Liu Z H, Gamage G A et al. High thermoelectric cooling performance of n-type Mg3Bi2-based materials. Science 365, 495–498 (2019).
18. Zhou T, Zhu X G, Tong M Y, Zhang Y, Luo X B et al. Experimental evidence of topological surface states in Mg3Bi2 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Chin Phys Lett 36, 117303 (2019).
19. Tu C M, Chen Y C, Huang P, Chuang P Y, Lin M Y et al. Helicity-dependent terahertz emission spectroscopy of topological insulator Sb2Te3 thin films. Phys Rev B 96, 195407 (2017).
20. Zhang X M, Jin L, Dai X F, Liu G D. Topological Type-II nodal line semimetal and dirac semimetal state in stable kagome compound Mg3Bi2. J Phys Chem Lett 8, 4814–4819 (2017).
21. Sánchez-Barriga J, Golias E, Varykhalov A, Braun J, Yashina L V et al. Ultrafast spin-polarization control of Dirac fermions in topological insulators. Phys Rev B 93, 155426 (2016).
22. Maysonnave J, Huppert S, Wang F, Maero S, Berger C et al. Terahertz generation by dynamical photon drag effect in graphene excited by femtosecond optical pulses. Nano Lett 14, 5797–5802 (2014).
23. Plank H, Golub L E, Bauer S, Bel'kov V V, Herrmann T et al. Photon drag effect in (Bi1−xSbx)2Te3 three-dimensional topological insulators. Phys Rev B 93, 125434 (2016).
24. Zhu L G, Kubera B, Fai Mak K, Shan J. Effect of surface states on terahertz emission from the Bi2Se3 surface. Sci Rep 5, 10308 (2015).
25. Zhang K X, Zhang Y Z, Wang X C, Yan T M, Jiang Y H. Continuum electron giving birth to terahertz emission. Photonics Res 8, 760–767 (2020).
26. Bas D A, Muniz R A, Babakiray S, Lederman D, Sipe J E et al. Photocurrents in Bi2Se3: bulk versus surface, and injection versus shift currents. Opt Express 24, 23583 (2016).
27. Park B C, Kim T H, Sim K I, Kang B Y, Kim J W et al. Terahertz single conductance quantum and topological phase transitions in topological insulator Bi2Se3 ultrathin films. Nat Commun 6, 6552 (2015).
28. He L, Xiu F X, Yu X X, Teague M, Jiang W J et al. Surface-dominated conduction in a 6 nm thick Bi2Se3 thin film. Nano Lett 12, 1486–1490 (2012).
29. Pan Y, Wang Q Z, Yeats A L, Pillsbury T, Flanagan T C et al. Helicity dependent photocurrent in electrically gated (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 thin films. Nat Commun 8, 1037 (2017).
30. Hamh S Y, Park S H, Jerng S K, Jeon J H, Chun S H et al. Helicity-dependent photocurrent in a Bi2Se3 thin film probed by terahertz emission spectroscopy. Phys Rev B 94, 161405 (2016).
31. Kampfrath T, Battiato M, Maldonado P, Eilers G, Nötzold J et al. Terahertz spin current pulses controlled by magnetic heterostructures. Nat Nanotechnol 8, 256–260 (2013).
32. Kinoshita Y, Kida N, Miyamoto T, Kanou M, Sasagawa T et al. Terahertz radiation by subpicosecond spin-polarized photocurrent originating from Dirac electrons in a Rashba-type polar semiconductor. Phys Rev B 97, 161104 (2018).
33. Wu Y, Elyasi M, Qiu X P, Chen M J, Liu Y et al. High-performance THz emitters based on ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic heterostructures. Adv Mater 29, 1603031 (2017).
34. Bahk Y M, Ramakrishnan G, Choi J, Song H, Choi G et al. Plasmon enhanced terahertz emission from single layer graphene. ACS Nano 8, 9089–9096 (2014).
35. Sirica N, Tobey R I, Zhao L X, Chen G F, Xu B et al. Tracking ultrafast photocurrents in the Weyl semimetal TaAs using THz emission spectroscopy. Phys Rev Lett 122, 197401 (2019).
36. Chen M J, Wu Y, Liu Y, Lee K, Qiu X P et al. Current‐enhanced broadband THz emission from spintronic devices. Adv Opt Mater 7, 1801608 (2019).
37. Moore J E, Orenstein J. Confinement-induced berry phase and helicity-dependent photocurrents. Phys Rev Lett 105, 026805 (2010).
38. Dong J P, Gradwohl K P, Xu Y D, Wang T, Zhang B B et al. Terahertz emission from layered GaTe crystal due to surface lattice reorganization and in-plane noncubic mobility anisotropy. Photonics Res 7, 518–525 (2019).
39. Miltos Maragkakis G, Psilodimitrakopoulos S, Mouchliadis L, Paradisanos I, Lemonis A et al. Imaging the crystal orientation of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides using polarization-resolved second-harmonic generation. Opto-Electron Adv 2, 190026 (2019).
40. Hu Y Z, Jiang T, Zhou J H, Hao H, Sun H et al. Ultrafast terahertz frequency and phase tuning by all-optical molecularization of metasurfaces. Adv Optical Mater 7, 1901050 (2019).
Funds:
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61975021), the Science and Technology Project of Jilin Province (20170414041GH), the Research Project of Jilin Provincial Education Department (JJKH20181090KJ)
Export Citations as:
For
Get Citation:
Tong M Y, Hu Y Z, Xie X N, Zhu X G, Wang Z Y et al. Helicity-dependent THz emission induced by ultrafast spin photocurrent in nod-al-line semimetal candidate Mg3Bi2. Opto-Electron Adv 3, 200023 (2020).
Previous: High-sensitivity distributed dynamic strain sensing by combining Rayleigh and Brillouin scattering