Floquet engineering with high-frequency light offers dynamic control over topological phases in quantum materials. While in 3D Dirac systems circularly polarized light is known to induce topological phase transitions via gap opening, linearly polarized light (LPL) has generally been considered ineffective. Here we show that in quasi-2D Dirac materials the second-order momentum term arising from the intersurface coupling can induce a topological phase transition under LPL, leading to chiral edge channels. Considering an ultrathin ${\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Se}}_3$ film as a representative system, we show that this transition occurs at experimentally accessible light intensities. Our results thus promote quasi-2D materials as viable platforms for light-controlled topological phases, expanding the potential of Floquet topological engineering.

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• Edge states
• Electronic structure
• Hall effect
• Light-matter interaction
• Phase transitions
• Quantum transport
• Surface states
• Topological phases of matter
• Transport phenomena
• Dirac semimetal
• Floquet systems
• Thin films
• Topological insulators
• Band structure methods
• Methods in transport