Quasiparticle interference and quantum confinement in a correlated Rashba spin-split 2D electron liquid

Abstract

Exploiting inversion symmetry breaking (ISB) in systems with strong spin-orbit coupling promises control of spin through electric fields - crucial to achieve miniaturization in spintronic devices. Delivering on this promise requires a two-dimensional electron gas with a spin precession length shorter than the spin coherence length and a large spin splitting so that spin manipulation can be achieved over length scales of nanometers. Recently, the transition metal oxide terminations of delafossite oxides were found to exhibit a large Rashba spin splitting dominated by ISB. In this limit, the Fermi surface exhibits the same spin texture as for weak ISB, but the orbital texture is completely different, raising questions about the effect on quasiparticle scattering. We demonstrate that the spin-orbital selection rules relevant for conventional Rashba system are obeyed as true spin selection rules in this correlated electron liquid and determine its spin coherence length from quasiparticle interference imaging.

arXiv comment7+1 pages, 5 figures, published version

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Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Avoided metallicity in a hole-doped Mott insulator on a triangular lattice
• Fully two-dimensional incommensurate charge modulation on the Pd-terminated polar surface of PdCoO2
• Adsorbate-induced formation of a surface-polarity-driven nonperiodic superstructure
• Dichotomy of electron-phonon interactions in the delafossite PdCoO${}_2$: From weak bulk to polaronic surface coupling
• Disorder-enhanced effective masses and deviations from Matthiessen's rule in PdCoO${}_2$ thin films