Spin Angular Momentum of a Nonlinear Surface Wave at the Interface between Ordinary and Topological Insulators

Abstract

The surface waves that propagate along the interface of a dielectric with nonlinear susceptibility of the third order and topological insulator have been considered. The optical nonlinearity of the dielectric ensures the existence of a surface wave. The density of the spin angular momentum of a surface wave has been determined for dielectrics with positive or negative linear permittivity. It has been shown that the spin angular momentum vector has a projection on the normal to the interface, which is different from the usual surface polaritons or plasmon polaritons. The discrete nature of the topological number manifests itself in the discreteness of the values of the normal and tangential components of the spin angular momentum density. The increase in the intensity of the electric field of the wave at the interface of the media changes the value of the spin angular momentum and can lead to its disappearance.