Laser-Induced Spin Precession in Topological Insulator Devices.

Abstract

Controlling spin currents in topological insulators (TIs) is crucial for spintronics but challenged by the robustness of their chiral edge states, which impedes the spin manipulation required for devices such as spin-field effect transistors (SFETs). We theoretically demonstrate that this challenge can be overcome by synergistically applying circularly polarized light and gate-tunable Rashba spin-orbit coupling (rSOC) to a 2D TI. Laser irradiation provides access to Floquet sidebands where rSOC induces controllable spin precession, leading to the generation of one-way, switchable spin-polarized photocurrents, a non-equilibrium effect forbidden in TIs under time-reversal symmetric (equilibrium) conditions. This mechanism effectively realizes SFET functionality within a driven TI, specifically operating within a distinct Floquet replica, offering a new paradigm for light-based control in topological spintronics.