Determining spin-orbit coupling in graphene by quasiparticle interference imaging

Lihuan Sun, Louk Rademaker, Diego Mauro, Alessandro Scarfato, Árpád Pásztor, Ignacio Gutiérrez-Lezama, Zhe Wang, Jose Martinez-Castro, Alberto F. Morpurgo and Christoph Renner ()
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Lihuan Sun: University of Geneva
Louk Rademaker: University of Geneva
Diego Mauro: University of Geneva
Alessandro Scarfato: University of Geneva
Árpád Pásztor: University of Geneva
Ignacio Gutiérrez-Lezama: University of Geneva
Zhe Wang: University of Geneva
Jose Martinez-Castro: University of Geneva
Alberto F. Morpurgo: University of Geneva
Christoph Renner: University of Geneva

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Inducing and controlling spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in graphene is key to create topological states of matter, and for the realization of spintronic devices. Placing graphene onto a transition metal dichalcogenide is currently the most successful strategy to achieve this goal, but there is no consensus as to the nature and the magnitude of the induced SOC. Here, we show that the presence of backscattering in graphene-on-WSe2 heterostructures can be used to probe SOC and to determine its strength quantitatively, by imaging quasiparticle interference with a scanning tunneling microscope. A detailed theoretical analysis of the Fourier transform of quasiparticle interference images reveals that the induced SOC consists of a valley-Zeeman (λvZ ≈ 2 meV) and a Rashba (λR ≈ 15 meV) term, one order of magnitude larger than what theory predicts, but in excellent agreement with earlier transport experiments. The validity of our analysis is confirmed by measurements on a 30 degree twist angle heterostructure that exhibits no backscattering, as expected from symmetry considerations. Our results demonstrate a viable strategy to determine SOC quantitatively by imaging quasiparticle interference.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39453-x

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