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  • Orbital-selective spin text...
    Xie, Zhuojin; He, Shaolong; Chen, Chaoyu; Feng, Ya; Yi, Hemian; Liang, Aiji; Zhao, Lin; Mou, Daixiang; He, Junfeng; Peng, Yingying; Liu, Xu; Liu, Yan; Liu, Guodong; Dong, Xiaoli; Yu, Li; Zhang, Jun; Zhang, Shenjin; Wang, Zhimin; Zhang, Fengfeng; Yang, Feng; Peng, Qinjun; Wang, Xiaoyang; Chen, Chuangtian; Xu, Zuyan; Zhou, X J

    Nature communications, 02/2014, Volume: 5, Issue: 1
    Journal Article

    Topological insulators represent a new quantum state of matter that are insulating in the bulk but metallic on the edge or surface. In the Dirac surface state, it is well-established that the electron spin is locked with the crystal momentum. Here we report a new phenomenon of the spin texture locking with the orbital texture in a topological insulator Bi₂Se₃. We observe light-polarization-dependent spin texture of both the upper and lower Dirac cones that constitutes strong evidence of the orbital-dependent spin texture in Bi₂Se₃. The different spin texture detected in variable polarization geometry is the manifestation of the spin-orbital texture in the initial state combined with the photoemission matrix element effects. Our observations provide a new orbital degree of freedom and a new way of light manipulation in controlling the spin structure of the topological insulators that are important for their future applications in spin-related technologies.