Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-splitting in the bulk ferroelectric oxide BiAlO${}_3$

Abstract

It has been recently suggested that the coexistence of ferroelectricity and Rashba-like spin-splitting effects due to spin-orbit coupling in a single material may allow for a non-volatile electric control of spin degrees of freedom. In the present work, we compared the structural and ferroelectric properties of tetragonal and rhombohedral phases of ferroelectric BiAlO${}_3$ by means of density-functional calculations. In both phases, we carefully investigated Rashba and Dresselhaus effects, giving rise to spin-splitting in their bulk electronic structure, particularly near the conduction band minimum, supplementing our first-principles results with an effective $k\cdot p$ model analysis. The full reversal of the spin texture with ferroelectric polarization switching was also predicted. BiAlO${}_3$ can therefore be considered as the first known oxide to exhibit a coexistence of ferroelectricity and Rashba-Dresselhaus effects.

8 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Strong spin-orbit splitting on Bi surfaces
• Effect of epitaxial strain on the spontaneous polarization of thin film ferroelectrics
• Strongly spin-orbit coupled two-dimensional electron gas emerging near the surface of polar semiconductors
• Observation of topological transition of Fermi surface from a spindle-torus to a torus in large bulk Rashba spin-split BiTeCl
• Tunable spin-gaps in a quantum-confined geometry

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Modulated Interlayer Exciton Properties in a Two-Dimensional Moire Crystal
• Bulk Rashba Effect in Multiferroics: a theoretical prediction for BiCoO3
• Spin-Neutral Tunneling Anomalous Hall Effect
• Band splitting with vanishing spin polarizations in noncentrosymmetric crystals
• Origin of Rashba spin-splitting and strain tunability in ferroelectric bulk CsPbF${}_3$
• Reversible giant out-of-plane Rashba effect in two-dimensional Ga$XY$ ($X$= Se, Te; $Y$= Cl, Br, I) compounds for persistent spin helix
• Magnetic-field-driven topological transitions in non-centrally-symmetric energy spectrum of 2D electron gas with Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction
• Classification of spin Hall effect in two-dimensional systems