Infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry and optical spectroscopy of plasmons in classic 3D topological insulators

Narrow bandgap Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, and Sb2Te3, commonly referred to as classic 3D topological insulators, were studied at room temperature by spectroscopic ellipsometry and optical reflection spectroscopy over the mid-IR–near-infrared photon energy range. Complementarily, Hall measurements were performed. Plasmons in optical loss function and reflection coefficient were identified. The conventional approach based on the high frequency dielectric constant was shown to work well in the description of plasmons in Bi2Se3 and Sb2Te3 and to fail in the case of a similar compound, Bi2Te3. The obtained results are discussed in terms of single- and multivalley approaches to the studied samples with taking the details of the calculated band structure into account.