Hierarchical spin-orbital polarisation of a giant Rashba system

Abstract

The Rashba effect is one of the most striking manifestations of spin-orbit coupling in solids, and provides a cornerstone for the burgeoning field of semiconductor spintronics. It is typically assumed to manifest as a momentum-dependent splitting of a single initially spin-degenerate band into two branches with opposite spin polarisation. Here, combining polarisation-dependent and resonant angle-resolved photoemission measurements with density-functional theory calculations, we show that the two "spin-split" branches of the model giant Rashba system BiTeI additionally develop disparate orbital textures, each of which is coupled to a distinct spin configuration. This necessitates a re-interpretation of spin splitting in Rashba-like systems, and opens new possibilities for controlling spin polarisation through the orbital sector.

11 pages including supplemental figures, accepted for publication at Science Advances

References in corpus (5)

• Direct observation of spin-polarised bulk bands in an inversion-symmetric semiconductor
• Emergent quantum confinement at topological insulator surfaces
• Photoelectron spin-polarization-control in the topological insulator Bi2Se3
• The momentum and photon energy dependence of the circular dichroic photoemission in the bulk Rashba semiconductors BiTeX (X = I, Br, Cl)
• Coupled Spin-Orbital Texture in a Prototypical Topological Insulator

Cited by in corpus (20)

• Maximal Rashba-like spin splitting via kinetic energy-driven inversion symmetry breaking
• Experimental observation of hidden Berry curvature in inversion-symmetric bulk 2H-WSe2
• Orbital-driven Rashba effect in a binary honeycomb monolayer AgTe
• Manipulating Giant Rashba Valley Splitting and Quantum Hall States in Few-Layer Black Arsenic by Electrostatic Gating
• Rashba spin splitting of L-gap surface states on Ag(111) and Cu(111)
• Electrically Controlled Spin Injection from Giant Rashba Spin-Orbit Conductor BiTeBr
• Direct Mapping of Spin and Orbital Entangled Wavefunction under Interband Spin-Orbit coupling of Rashba Spin-Split Surface States
• Two-dimensional Square Buckled Rashba Lead Chalcogenides
• Orbital-selective Band Hybridisation at the Charge Density Wave Transition in Monolayer TiTe${}_2$
• Orbital mapping of energy bands and the truncated spin polarization in three-dimensional Rashba semiconductors
• Revealing the two-dimensional electronic structure and anisotropic superconductivity in a natural van der Waals superlattice (PbSe)${}_{1.14}$NbSe${}_2$
• Hidden spin-orbital texture at the $\bar{\Gamma }$-located valence band maximum of a transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductor
• Direct observation of strain-induced orbital valence band splitting in HfSe${}_2$ by sodium intercalation
• Role of matrix elements in the time-resolved photoemission signal
• One-Dimensional Spin-Polarised Surface States -- A Comparison of Bi(112) with Other Vicinal Bismuth Surfaces
• Spin-Mediated Direct Photon Scattering by Plasmons in BiTeI
• Enhancement of Giant Rashba Splitting in BiTeI under Asymmetric Interlayer Interaction
• Effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling on topological phases in monolayer ZnIn2Te4
• Transport properties of Rashba conducting strips coupled to magnetic moments with spiral order
• Beyond spin-1/2: Multipolar spin-orbit coupling in noncentrosymmetric crystals with time-reversal symmetry