Spin and charge structure of the surface states in topological insulators

Abstract

We investigate the spin and charge densities of surface states of the three- dimensional topological insulator Bi2Se3, starting from the continuum description of the material [Zhang et al., Nat. Phys. 5, 438 (2009)]. The spin structure on surfaces other than the (111) surface has additional complexity because of a misalignment of the contributions coming from the two sublattices of the crystal. For these surfaces we expect new features to be seen in the spin-resolved angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments, caused by a nonhelical spin polarization of electrons at the individual sublattices as well as by the interference of the electron waves emitted coherently from two sublattices. We also show that the position of the Dirac crossing in the spectrum of the surface states depends on the orientation of the interface. This leads to contact potentials and surface charge redistribution at edges between different facets of the crystal.