Spin-momentum locked interaction between guided photons and surface electrons in topological insulators

The propagation of electrons and photons can respectively have the spin-momentum locking effect which correlates spin with linear momentum. For surface electrons in three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs), their spin is locked to the transport direction. Analogously, photons in optical waveguides carry transverse spin angular momentum which is also locked to the propagation direction. A direct connection between electron and photon spins occurs in TIs due to spin-dependent selection rules of optical transitions. Here we demonstrate an optoelectronic device that integrates a TI with a photonic waveguide. Interaction between photons in the waveguide and surface electrons in a Bi₂Se₃ layer generates a directional, spin-polarized photocurrent. Because of spin-momentum locking, changing light propagation direction reverses photon spin and thus the direction of the photocurrent. Our device represents a way of implementing coupled spin-orbit interaction between electrons and photons and may lead to applications in opto-spintronics and quantum information processing.