Giant Rashba splitting in graphene due to hybridization with gold

D. Marchenko (), A. Varykhalov, M.R. Scholz, G. Bihlmayer, E.I. Rashba, A. Rybkin, A.M. Shikin and O. Rader
Additional contact information
D. Marchenko: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Elektronenspeicherring BESSY II
A. Varykhalov: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Elektronenspeicherring BESSY II
M.R. Scholz: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Elektronenspeicherring BESSY II
G. Bihlmayer: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA
E.I. Rashba: Harvard University
A. Rybkin: Institute of Physics, St Petersburg State University
A.M. Shikin: Institute of Physics, St Petersburg State University
O. Rader: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Elektronenspeicherring BESSY II

Nature Communications, 2012, vol. 3, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Graphene in spintronics is predominantly considered for spin current leads of high performance due to weak intrinsic spin–orbit coupling of the graphene π electrons. Externally induced large spin–orbit coupling opens the possibility of using graphene in active elements of spintronic devices such as the Das-Datta spin field-effect transistor. Here we show that Au intercalation at the graphene–Ni interface creates a giant spin–orbit splitting (~100 meV) of the graphene Dirac cone up to the Fermi energy. Photoelectron spectroscopy reveals the hybridization with Au 5d states as the source for this giant splitting. An ab initio model of the system shows a Rashba-split spectrum around the Dirac point of graphene. A sharp graphene–Au interface at the equilibrium distance accounts for only ~10 meV spin–orbit splitting and enhancement is due to the Au atoms in the hollow position that get closer to graphene and do not break the sublattice symmetry.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2227 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2227

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2227

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().