Physik-Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2012 May 2;24(17):171001. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/24/17/171001. Epub 2012 Apr 5.
Photoemitted electrons move in a vacuum; their quantum state can be completely characterized in terms of energy, momentum and spin polarization by spin-polarized photoemission experiments. A review article in this issue by Heinzmann and Dil (2012 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 24 173001) considers whether the measured spin properties, i.e. the magnitude and direction of the spin polarization vector, can be traced back to the quantum state from which these electrons originate. The careful conclusion is that they can, which is highly relevant in view of the current interest in these experiments and their application to topological insulators, where the spin-orbit interaction produces spin-polarized surface states.
光发射电子在真空中运动；通过自旋极化光发射实验，它们的量子态可以完全用能量、动量和自旋极化来描述。Heinzmann 和 Dil 在本期《物理：凝聚态物质》杂志（2012 J. Phys.：Condens. Matter 24 173001）上发表的一篇综述文章考虑了所测量的自旋性质，即自旋极化矢量的大小和方向，是否可以追溯到这些电子起源的量子态。谨慎的结论是，它们可以，这在当前对这些实验及其在拓扑绝缘体中的应用的关注中非常重要，在拓扑绝缘体中，自旋轨道相互作用产生自旋极化的表面态。
