Spin-orbit coupling and spin relaxation in phosphorene: Intrinsic versus extrinsic effects

Abstract

First-principles calculations of the essential spin-orbit and spin relaxation properties of phosphorene are performed. Intrinsic spin-orbit coupling induces spin mixing with the probability of $b^2\approx 10^{-4}$, exhibiting a large anisotropy, following the anisotropic crystalline structure of phosphorene. For realistic values of the momentum relaxation times, the intrinsic (Elliott--Yafet) spin relaxation times are hundreds of picoseconds to nanoseconds. Applying a transverse electric field (simulating gating and substrates) generates extrinsic $C_{2v}$ symmetric spin-orbit fields in phosphorene, which activate the D'yakonov--Perel' mechanism for spin relaxation. It is shown that this extrinsic spin relaxation also has a strong anisotropy, and can dominate over the Elliott-Yafet one for strong enough electric fields. Phosphorene on substrates can thus exhibit an interesting interplay of both spin relaxation mechanisms, whose individual roles could be deciphered using our results.

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• Graphene Spintronics
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• Quasiparticle band structure and tight-binding model for single- and bilayer black phosphorus
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