Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 222, 1271-1275 (2013)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-01921-1

Regular Article

Time resolved ultrafast ARPES for the study of topological insulators: The case of Bi₂ Te₃

¹ Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS-UMR 8502, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France
² School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
³ Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
⁴ Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint Aubin, BP. 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁵ Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, Ecole Polytechnique-CEA/DSM-CNRS UMR 7642, 91128 Palaiseau, France

Received: 18 March 2013
Revised: 12 May 2013
Published online: 15 July 2013

Abstract

We discuss the application of time-resolved ultrafast angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to the study of photoexcited topological insulators. Measurements performed on the prototype material Bi₂Te₃ clearly show that all the main processes involved in the ultrafast surface carrier dynamics of topological insulators can be clearly observed and quantitatively analyzed. The comparison with other experimental results shows that the relative position of surface and bulk conduction bands with respect to the system Fermi level play an essential role in the recombination processes following ultrafast optical excitation.