  Using femtosecond time- and angle- resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we
investigated the nonequilibrium dynamics of the topological insulator Bi2Se3.
We studied p-type Bi2Se3, in which the metallic Dirac surface state and bulk
conduction bands are unoccupied. Optical excitation leads to a meta-stable
population at the bulk conduction band edge, which feeds a nonequilibrium
population of the surface state persisting for >10ps. This unusually long-lived
population of a metallic Dirac surface state with spin texture may present a
channel in which to drive transient spin-polarized currents.
