Topological insulator as an optical modulator for pulsed solid-state lasers

Topological insulators are states of quantum matter that have narrow topological nontrivial energy gaps and a large third-order nonlinear optical response. The optical absorption of topological insulators can become saturated under strong excitation. In this work, with Bi2Se3 as an example, it was demonstrated that a topological insulator can modulate the operation of a bulk solid-state laser by taking advantage of its saturable absorption. The result suggests that topological insulators are potentially attractive as broadband pulsed modulators for the generation of short and ultrashort pulses in bulk solid-state lasers, in addition to other promising applications in physics and computing.