Orbital mapping of energy bands and the truncated spin polarization in three-dimensional Rashba semiconductors

Abstract

Associated with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and inversion symmetry breaking, Rashba spin polarization opens a new avenue for spintronic applications that was previously limited to ordinary magnets. However, spin polarization effects in actual Rashba systems are far more complicated than what conventional single-orbital models would suggest. By studying via first-principles DFT and a multi-orbital k.p model a 3D bulk Rashba system (free of complications by surface effects) we find that the physical origin of the leading spin polarization effects is SOC-induced hybridization between spin and multiple orbitals, especially those with nonzero orbital angular momenta. In this framework we establish a general understanding of the orbital mapping, common to the surface of topological insulators and Rashba system. Consequently, the intrinsic mechanism of various spin polarization effects, which pertain to all Rashba systems even those with global inversion symmetry, is understood as a manifestation of the orbital textures. This finding suggests a route for designing high spin-polarization materials by considering the atomic-orbital content.

13 pages, 3 fugures

References in corpus (5)

• Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices
• Emergent quantum confinement at topological insulator surfaces
• Direct Measurement of the Out-of-Plane Spin Texture in the Dirac Cone Surface State of a Topological Insulator
• Magnonic Charge Pumping via Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Search and design of nonmagnetic centrosymmetric layered crystals with large local spin polarization

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Two-dimensional Square Buckled Rashba Lead Chalcogenides
• Double-Rashba materials for nanocrystals with bright ground-state excitons
• Enhancement of Giant Rashba Splitting in BiTeI under Asymmetric Interlayer Interaction
• Reconstructing the wavefunction of magnetic topological insulators MnBi2Te4 and MnBi4Te7 using spin-resolved photoemission