Tuning a Schottky barrier in a photoexcited topological insulator with transient Dirac cone electron-hole asymmetry - ENSTA Paris - École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées Paris Access content directly
Journal Articles Nature Year : 2014

Tuning a Schottky barrier in a photoexcited topological insulator with transient Dirac cone electron-hole asymmetry

Abstract

The advent of Dirac materials has made it possible to realize two-dimensional gases of relativistic fermions with unprecedented transport properties in condensed matter. Their photoconductive control with ultrafast light pulses is opening new perspectives for the transmission of current and information. Here we show that the interplay of surface and bulk transient carrier dynamics in a photoexcited topological insulator can control an essential parameter for photoconductivity-the balance between excess electrons and holes in the Dirac cone. This can result in a strongly out of equilibrium gas of hot relativistic fermions, characterized by a surprisingly long lifetime of more than 50 ps, and a simultaneous transient shift of chemical potential by as much as 100 meV. The unique properties of this transient Dirac cone make it possible to tune with ultrafast light pulses a relativistic nanoscale Schottky barrier, in a way that is impossible with conventional optoelectronic materials.

Dates and versions

hal-01011937 , version 1 (25-06-2014)

Identifiers

Cite

Mahdi Hajlaoui, E. Papalazarou, Julien Mauchain, Luca Perfetti, Amina Taleb-Ibrahimi, et al.. Tuning a Schottky barrier in a photoexcited topological insulator with transient Dirac cone electron-hole asymmetry. Nature, 2014, 5, pp.3003. ⟨10.1038/ncomms4003⟩. ⟨hal-01011937⟩
333 View
0 Download

Altmetric

Share

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More