Spin-to-charge conversion (SCC) involving topological surface states (TSS) is one of the most promising routes for highly efficient spintronic devices for terahertz (THz) emission. Here, the THz generation generally occurs mainly via SCC consisting in efficient dynamical spin injection into spin-locked TSS. In this work, we demonstrate sizable THz emission from a nanometric thick topological insultator (TI)/ferromagnetic junction - SnBi2Te4/Co - specifically designed to avoid bulk band crossing with the TSS at the Fermi level, unlike its parent material Bi2Te3. THz emission time domain spectroscopy (TDS) is used to indicate the TSS contribution to the SCC by investigating the TI thickness and angular dependence of the THz emission. This work illustrates THz emission TDS as a powerful tool alongside angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) methods to investigate the interfacial spintronic properties of TI/ferromagnet bilayers.
@article{arxiv.2203.08756,
title = {Ultrafast spin-charge conversion at SnBi$_2$Te$_4$/Co topological insulator interfaces probed by terahertz emission spectroscopy},
author = {E. Rongione and S. Fragkos and L. Baringthon and J. Hawecker and E. Xenogiannopoulou and P. Tsipas and C. Song and M. Micica and J. Mangeney and J. Tignon and T. Boulier and N. Reyren and R. Lebrun and J. -M. George and P. Lefèvre and S. Dhillon and A. Dimoulas and H. Jaffres},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.08756},
year = {2022}
}