Hidden Zeeman-type spin polarization in bulk crystals

Abstract

Exploring hidden effects that have been overlooked given the nominal global crystal symmetry but are indeed visible in solid-state materials has been a fascinating subject of research recently. Here, we introduce a novel hidden Zeeman-type spin polarization (HZSP) in nonmagnetic bulk crystals with sublattice structures. In the momentum space of these crystals, the doubly degenerate bands formed in a certain plane can exhibit a uniform spin configuration with opposite spin orientations perpendicular to this plane, whereas such degenerate states are spatially separated in a pair of real-space sectors. Interestingly, we find that HZSP can manifest itself in both centrosymmetric and non-centrosymmetric materials. We further demonstrate the important role of nonsymmorphic twofold screw-rotational symmetry played in the formation of HZSP. Moreover, two representative material examples, i.e., centrosymmetric WSe${}_2$ and noncentrosymmetric BaBi${}_4$O${}_7$, are identified to show HZSP via first-principles calculations. Our finding thus not only opens new perspectives for hidden spin polarization research but also significantly broadens the range of materials towards spintronics applications.

5 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Universal symmetry-protected persistent spin textures in nonmagnetic solids
• Understanding spin textures in PT-broken systems through universal symmetry-constrained rules
• Matter with apparent and hidden spin physics