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

Linding Yuan, Qihang Liu, Xiuwen Zhang, Jun-Wei Luo (), Shu-Shen Li and Alex Zunger ()
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Linding Yuan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qihang Liu: University of Colorado
Xiuwen Zhang: Shenzhen University
Jun-Wei Luo: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shu-Shen Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Alex Zunger: University of Colorado

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08836-4

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