Intrinsic instability of electronic interfaces with strong Rashba coupling

Abstract

We consider a model for the two-dimensional electron gas formed at the interface of oxide heterostructures, which includes a Rashba spin-orbit coupling proportional to the electric field perpendicular to the interface. Based on the standard mechanism of polarity catastrophe, we assume that the electric field is proportional to the electron density. Under these simple and general assumptions, we show that a phase separation instability occurs for realistic values of the spin-orbit coupling and of the band parameters. This could provide an intrinsic mechanism for the recently observed inhomogeneous phases at the LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 or LaTiO_3/SrTiO_3 interfaces.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Electric Field Control of the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ Interface Ground State
• Phase diagram for Coulomb-frustrated phase separation in systems with negative short-range compressibility
• Plasmon mass and Drude weight in strongly spin-orbit-coupled 2D electron gases
• Unconventional Fermi surface spin textures in the Bi_xPb_{1-x}/Ag(111) surface alloy

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Theory of spin-orbit coupling at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces and SrTiO3 surfaces
• Giant negative magnetoresistance driven by spin-orbit coupling at the LAO/STO interface
• Spectroscopic evidence for negative electronic compressibility in a quasi-three-dimensional spin-orbit correlated metal
• Spin-Orbit Coupling in LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ interfaces: Magnetism and Orbital Ordering
• Inhomogeneous multi-carrier superconductivity at LaXO3/SrTiO3 (X=Al or Ti) oxide interfaces
• Possible mechanisms of electronic phase separation in oxide interfaces
• Spin-orbit controlled quantum capacitance of a polar heterostructure
• Density driven fluctuations in a two-dimensional superconductor