Raman measurements of a Fano-type surface phonon mode associated with Dirac surface states (SS) in Bi2Se3 topological insulator thin films allowed an unambiguous determination of the electron-phonon coupling strength in Dirac SS as a function of film thickness ranging from 2 to 40nm. A non-monotonic enhancement of the electron-phonon coupling strength with maximum for the 8-10nm thick films was observed. The non-monotonicity is suggested to originate from plasmon-phonon coupling which enhances electron-phonon coupling when free carrier density in Dirac SS increases with decreasing film thickness and becomes suppressed for thinnest films when anharmonic coupling between in-plane and out-of-plane phonon modes occurs. The observed about four-fold enhancement of electron-phonon coupling in Dirac SS of the 8-10nm thick Bi2Se3 films with respect to the bulk samples may provide new insights into the origin of superconductivity in this-type materials and their applications.

Transient reflectivity (TR) measured at laser photon energy 1.51 eV from the indirectly intersurface-coupled topological insulator Bi2-x Mn x Se3 films (12 nm thick) revealed a strong dependence of the rise-time and initial decay-time constants on photoexcited carrier density and Mn content. In undoped samples (x  =  0), these time constants are exclusively governed by electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering, respectively, whereas in films with x  =  0.013-0.27 ultrafast carrier dynamics are completely controlled by photoexcited electron trapping by ionized Mn(2+) acceptors and their dimers. The shortest decay-time (~0.75 ps) measured for the film with x  =  0.27 suggests a great potential of Mn-doped Bi2Se3 films for applications in high-speed optoelectronic devices. Using Raman spectroscopy exploiting similar laser photon energy (1.58 eV), we demonstrate that due to indirect intersurface coupling in the films, the photoexcited electron trapping in the bulk enhances the electron-phonon interaction strength in Dirac surface states.

Low-energy collective electronic excitations exhibiting sound-like linear dispersion have been intensively studied both experimentally and theoretically for a long time. However, coherent acoustic plasmon modes appearing in time-domain measurements are rarely observed due to Landau damping by the single-particle continua. Here we report on the observation of coherent acoustic Dirac plasmon (CADP) modes excited in indirectly (electrostatically) opposite-surface coupled films of the topological insulator Bi₂Se₃. Using transient second-harmonic generation, a technique capable of independently monitoring the in-plane and out-of-plane electron dynamics in the films, the GHz-range oscillations were observed without corresponding oscillations in the transient reflectivity. These oscillations were assigned to the transverse magnetic and transverse electric guided CADP modes induced by the evanescent guided Lamb acoustic waves and remained Landau undamped due to fermion tunnelling between the opposite-surface Dirac states.