Chiral photocurrent in a Quasi-1D TiS3(001) phototransistor

Simeon J Gilbert; Mingxing Li; Jia-Shiang Chen; Hemian Yi; Alexey Lipatov; Jose Avila; Alexander Sinitskii; Maria C Asensio; Peter A Dowben; Andrew J Yost

doi:10.1088/1361-648X/acb581

Chiral photocurrent in a Quasi-1D TiS₃(001) phototransistor

J Phys Condens Matter. 2023 Feb 1;35(12). doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/acb581.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0299, United States of America.
² Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, United States of America.
³ Synchrotron SOLEIL and Université Paris-Saclay, L'Orme des Merisiers, BP48, 91190 Saint-Aubin, France.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0304, United States of America.
⁵ Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM), Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC), and MATINÉE: the CSIC Research Associated between the Institute of Materiasl Sciences of the Valencia University (ICMUV) and the ICMM, Cantoblanco, E-28049 Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-3072, United States of America.
⁷ Oklahoma Photovoltaic Research Institute, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States of America.

PMID: 36689777
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/acb581

Abstract

The presence of in-plane chiral effects, hence spin-orbit coupling, is evident in the changes in the photocurrent produced in a TiS₃(001) field-effect phototransistor with left versus right circularly polarized light. The direction of the photocurrent is protected by the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling and the anisotropy of the band structure as indicated in NanoARPES measurements. Dark electronic transport measurements indicate that TiS₃is n-type and has an electron mobility in the range of 1-6 cm²V^-1s^-1.I-Vmeasurements under laser illumination indicate the photocurrent exhibits a bias directionality dependence, reminiscent of bipolar spin diode behavior. Because the TiS₃contains no heavy elements, the presence of spin-orbit coupling must be attributed to the observed loss of inversion symmetry at the TiS₃(001) surface.

Keywords: anisotropic band structure; chiral photocurrent; phototransistor Materials; spin–orbit coupling; transition metal trichalcogenide.