Uncovering and tailoring hidden Rashba spin-orbit splitting in centrosymmetric crystals

Yuan, Linding1,2; Liu, Qihang3,4,5; Zhang, Xiuwen6; Luo, Jun-Wei1,2,7; Li, Shu-Shen1,2,7; Zunger, Alex3

2019-02-22

10.1038/s41467-019-08836-4

Nature Communications   影响因子和分区

2041-1723

Hidden Rashba and Dresselhaus spin splittings in centrosymmetric crystals with subunits/sectors having non-centrosymmetric symmetries (the R-2 and D-2 effects) have been predicted theoretically and then observed experimentally, but the microscopic mechanism remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that the spin splitting in the R-2 effect is enforced by specific symmetries, such as non-symmorphic symmetry in the present example, which ensures that the pertinent spin wavefunctions segregate spatially on just one of the two inversion-partner sectors and thus avoid compensation. We further show that the effective Hamiltonian for the conventional Rashba (R-1) effect is also applicable for the R-2 effect, but applying a symmetry-breaking electric field to a R-2 compound produces a different spin-splitting pattern than applying a field to a trivial, non-R-2, centrosymmetric compound. This finding establishes a common fundamental source for the R-1 effect and the R-2 effect, both originating from local sector symmetries rather than from the global crystal symmetry per se.

SCI

英语

NI期刊

其他

NSFC[11774239]

Science & Technology - Other Topics

Multidisciplinary Sciences

WOS:000459403800011

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

Web of Science

1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Semicond, State Key Lab Superlattices & Microstruct, Beijing 100083, Peoples R China
2.Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Ctr Mat Sci & Optoelect Engn, Beijing 100049, Peoples R China
3.Univ Colorado, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Inst, Boulder, CO 80309 USA
4.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Inst Quantum Sci & Engn, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
5.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Phys, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
6.Shenzhen Univ, Coll Phys & Optoelect Engn, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong, Peoples R China
7.Beijing Acad Quantum Informat Sci, Beijing 100193, Peoples R China

Yuan, Linding,Liu, Qihang,Zhang, Xiuwen,et al. Uncovering and tailoring hidden Rashba spin-orbit splitting in centrosymmetric crystals[J]. Nature Communications,2019,10.

Yuan, Linding,Liu, Qihang,Zhang, Xiuwen,Luo, Jun-Wei,Li, Shu-Shen,&Zunger, Alex.(2019).Uncovering and tailoring hidden Rashba spin-orbit splitting in centrosymmetric crystals.Nature Communications,10.

Yuan, Linding,et al."Uncovering and tailoring hidden Rashba spin-orbit splitting in centrosymmetric crystals".Nature Communications 10(2019).