Manifestation of topological surface electron states in the photoelectromagnetic effect induced by terahertz laser radiation

We demonstrate that measurements of the photoelectromagnetic effect using terahertz laser radiation may provide a unique opportunity to discriminate between the topological surface states and other highly conductive surface electron states. We performed a case study of mixed (Bi${}_{1-x}$In_x)₂Se₃ crystals undergoing a topological phase transformation due to the transition from the inverse to the direct electron energy spectrum in the crystal bulk at variation of the composition x. We show that for the topological insulator phase, the photoelectromagnetic effect amplitude is defined by the number of incident radiation quanta, whereas for the trivial insulator phase, it depends on the power in a laser pulse irrespective of its wavelength. We assume that such behavior is attributed to a strong damping of the electron–electron interaction in the topological insulator phase compared to the trivial insulator. (paper)