Probing a topological insulator with circularly polarized light (IMAGE)
Caption
Diagram of an experimental setup at SLAC’s high-power laser lab where scientists used circularly polarized laser light to probe a topological insulator – a type of quantum material that conducts electric current on its surfaces but not through its interior. A process called high harmonic generation shifts the laser light to higher energies and frequencies, or harmonics. This produces polarization patterns in a detector (arrows) that reveal the spin and momentum of electrons in the conductive surface layer – a unique signature of the topological surface.
Credit
Shambhu Ghimire/Stanford PULSE Institute
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