  We study transport and optical properties of the surface states which lie in
the bulk energy gap of a thin-film topological insulator. When the film
thickness is comparable with the surface state decay length into the bulk, the
tunneling between the top and bottom surfaces opens an energy gap and form two
degenerate massive Dirac hyperbolas. Spin dependent physics emerges in the
surface bands which are vastly different from the bulk behavior. These include
the surface spin Hall effects, spin dependent orbital magnetic moment, and spin
dependent optical transition selection rule which allows optical spin
injection. We show a topological quantum phase transition where the Chern
number of the surface bands changes when varying the thickness of the thin
film.
