Giant Rashba-type spin splitting through spin-dependent interatomic-hopping

Abstract

We have performed density functional theory calculation and tight binging analysis in order to investigate the mechanism for the giant Rashba-type spin splitting (RSS) observed in Bi/Ag(111). We find that local orbital angular momentum induces momentum and spin dependent charge distribution which results in spin-dependent hopping. We show that the spin-dependent interatomic-hopping in Bi/Ag(111) works as a strong effective field and induces the giant RSS, indicating that the giant RSS is driven by hopping, not by a uniform electric field. The effective field from the hopping energy difference amounts to be ~18 V/Å. This new perspective on the RSS gives us a hint for the giant RSS mechanism in general and should provide a strategy for designing new RSS materials by controlling spin-dependence of hopping energy between the neighboring atomic layers.

References in corpus (7)

• New Perspectives for Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Highly efficient and tuneable spin-to-charge conversion through Rashba coupling at oxide interfaces
• All-electric all-semiconductor spin field effect transistors
• Maximal Rashba-like spin splitting via kinetic energy-driven inversion symmetry breaking
• Topological Dirac Nodal Lines and Surface Charges in fcc Alkaline Earth Metals
• Probing variations of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling at the nanometer scale
• Unconventional magnetic anisotropy in one-dimentional Rashba system realized by adsorbing Gd atom on zigzag graphene nanoribbons

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Orbital-driven Rashba effect in a binary honeycomb monolayer AgTe
• Geometric Origin of Intrinsic Spin Hall Effect in an Inhomogeneous Electric Field
• Berry curvature in monolayer MoS${}_2$ with broken mirror symmetry
• Enhancement of Giant Rashba Splitting in BiTeI under Asymmetric Interlayer Interaction