Optical bulk-boundary dichotomy in a quantum spin Hall insulator

The bulk-boundary correspondence is a critical concept in topological quantum materials. For instance, a quantum spin Hall insulator features a bulk insulating gap with gapless helical boundary states protected by the underlying Z₂ topology. However, the bulk-boundary dichotomy and distinction are rarely explored in optical experiments, which can provide unique information about topological charge carriers beyond transport and electronic spectroscopy techniques. Here, we utilize mid-infrared absorption micro-spectroscopy and pump–probe micro-spectroscopy to elucidate the bulk-boundary optical responses of Bi₄Br₄, a recently discovered room-temperature quantum spin Hall insulator. Benefiting from the low energy of infrared photons and the high spatial resolution, we unambiguously resolve a strong absorption from the boundary states while the bulk absorption is suppressed by its insulating gap. Moreover, the boundary absorption exhibits strong polarization anisotropy, consistent with the one-dimensional nature of the topological boundary states. Our infrared pump–probe microscopy further measures a substantially increased carrier lifetime for the boundary states, which reaches one nanosecond scale. The nanosecond lifetime is about one to two orders longer than that of most topological materials and can be attributed to the linear dispersion nature of the helical boundary states. Our findings demonstrate the optical bulk-boundary dichotomy in a topological material and provide a proof-of-principal methodology for studying topological optoelectronics.