Mapping the Orbital Texture of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3

The orbital texture of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 was observed with ARPES using linearly polarized light. The topological state features a superposition of all three p orbitals. We compare the measured orbitals to the existing density functional theory calculations in the literature. This illustrates some of the unusual properties of this topological state and helps clarify the origin of the currently conflicting results from the spin resolved ARPES measurements.