Ultrafast carrier and phonon dynamics in thin films of bismuth telluride on a flexible substrate

Abstract

Thin films of topological insulators (TIs) possess exotic nonlinear optical properties such as strong light-matter interaction, broadband spectral sensitivity, thickness-dependent tunable bandgap, higher harmonic generation, etc. Due to the presence of metallic surface states with Dirac fermions and an insulating bulk band in TI, they are projected to be a viable material for studying novel physics, resulting in exciting new properties and technologies. The peculiar electron-phonon interactions at the surface have been linked to various unexpected physical features of topological insulators. Although electron behaviour in topological insulators has been extensively investigated on non-flexible substrates, electron-phonon interactions at TI bulk and surfaces states are less well known on a flexible substrate. Because of its potential uses in wearable devices, communications, sensors, and other fields, there is a significant need for the manufacture of high performance flexible optoelectronic responses employing novel exotic materials. In this paper, we preformed ultrafast pump-probe method to explore TI (Bi2Te3) thin films on a flexible PET (polyethylene terephthalate) substrate. We studied the dynamics of Bi2Te3 thin films' hot carrier relaxation progression and coherent phonon behaviour using transient absorbance measurements. Thickness-dependent low-frequency coherent acoustical phonon oscillations are observed in 10 nm thick films, and the changes vanish for 25 nm thick films, and high-frequency optical phonon oscillations are absent in our work. Subpicosecond range of time constant for the photon excitation, diffusion, carrier thermalization, and relaxation are reported. Longer characteristics time was observed for 25 nm film as compared to 10 nm film, and its variation has been discussed here. The thickness-dependent coherent acoustic phonon oscillating in the terahertz frequency range has been experimentally calculated. The film's terahertz frequency response varies with its thickness, allowing it to be employed in future terahertz applications based on flexible topological insulator thin films.