Harnessing the giant out-of-plane Rashba effect and the nanoscale persistent spin helix via ferroelectricity in SnTe thin films

Abstract

A non-vanishing electric field inside a non-centrosymmetric bulk crystal transforms into a momentum- dependent magnetic field, namely, a spin-orbit field (SOF). SOFs are of great use in spintronics because they enable spin manipulation via the electric field. At the same time, however, spintronic applications are severely limited by the SOF, as electrons traversing the SOF easily lose their spin information. Here, we propose that in-plane ferroelectricity in (001)-oriented SnTe thin films harness the Janus-faced SOF in a reconcilable way to enable electrical spin controllability and suppress spin dephasing. The in-plane ferroelectricity produces a unidirectional out-of-plane Rashba SOF that can host a long-lived helical spin mode known as a persistent spin helix (PSH). Through direct coupling between the inversion asymmetry and the SOF, the ferroelectric switching reverses the out-of-plane Rashba SOF, giving rise to a maximally field-tunable PSH. Furthermore, the giant out- of-plane Rashba SOF seen in the SnTe thin films is linked to the nano-sized PSH, potentially reducing spintronic device sizes to the nanoscale. We combine the two ferroelectric-coupled degrees of freedom, longitudinal charge and transverse PSH, to design intersectional electro-spintronic transistors governed by non-volatile ferroelectric switching within nanoscale lateral and atomic-thick vertical dimensions.

References in corpus (14)

• Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications
• Van der Waals heterostructures
• 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures
• Spin Caloritronics
• Non-ballistic spin field-effect transistor
• An Exact SU(2) Symmetry and Persistent Spin Helix in a Spin-Orbit Coupled System
• Emergence of the persistent spin helix in semiconductor quantum wells
• All-electric all-semiconductor spin field effect transistors
• Direct mapping of the formation of a persistent spin helix: Supplementary information
• Persistent Spin Textures in Semiconductor Nanostructures
• Stretchable persistent spin helices in GaAs quantum wells
• Spin relaxation in a generic two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled system
• Intrinsic persistent spin helix in two-dimensional group-IV monochalcogenide MX (M : Sn, Ge; X: S, Se, Te) monolayer
• Electrons, holes, and spin in the IV-VI monolayer 'four-six-enes'

Cited by in corpus (21)

• Microscopic manipulation of ferroelectric domains in SnSe monolayers at room temperature
• Colloquium: Physical properties of group-IV monochalcogenide monolayers
• Rashba spin-splitting in ferroelectric oxides: from rationalizing to engineering
• Ultrathin SnTe films as a route towards all-in-one spintronics devices
• Switchable Rashba Anisotropy in Two-dimensional Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskite by Hybrid Improper Ferroelectricity
• Spin-Neutral Tunneling Anomalous Hall Effect
• Reversible giant out-of-plane Rashba effect in two-dimensional Ga$XY$ ($X$= Se, Te; $Y$= Cl, Br, I) compounds for persistent spin helix
• Corner states, hinge states and Majorana modes in SnTe nanowires
• Large band splitting with tunable spin polarization in two-dimensional ferroelectric GaXY (X= Se, Te; Y= Cl, Br, I) family
• A Novel Ferroelectric Rashba Semiconductor
• Strain engineering a persistent spin helix with infinite spin lifetime
• Full-zone Persistent Spin Textures with Giant Spin Splitting in Two-dimensional Group IV-V Compounds
• Strong anomalous proximity effect from spin-singlet superconductors
• Unidirectional Rashba Spin Splitting in Single Layer WS${}_{2(1-x)}$Se${}_{2x}$ alloy
• Reversible canted persistent spin textures with large spin splitting in two-dimensional ferroelectric bilayer WTe${}_2$
• (110) Facet of MgTe Zinc Blende Semiconductor: A Holy Grail for Modern Spintronics
• Persistent Spin Textures in Nonpolar Chiral Systems
• Investigating Quantum Spin-Textures Using Universal MJ Hamiltonians
• Coexistence of Rashba and Dirac dispersions on the surface of centrosymmetric topological insulator decorated with transition metals
• Kondo effect in a two-dimensional electron gas in the Persistent Spin Helix regime
• Direct observation of the electronic structure of even-layer puckered SnTe monolayer films on graphene