Evidence for spin-to-charge conversion by Rashba coupling in metallic states at the Fe/Ge(111) interface

S. Oyarzún (), A. K. Nandy, F. Rortais, J.-C. Rojas-Sánchez, M.-T. Dau, P. Noël, P. Laczkowski, S. Pouget, H. Okuno, L. Vila, C. Vergnaud, C. Beigné, A. Marty, J.-P. Attané, S. Gambarelli, J.-M. George, H. Jaffrès, S. Blügel and M. Jamet ()
Additional contact information
S. Oyarzún: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
A. K. Nandy: Peter Grünberg Institute and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA
F. Rortais: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
J.-C. Rojas-Sánchez: Unité Mixte de Physique, CNRS, Thales, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
M.-T. Dau: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
P. Noël: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
P. Laczkowski: Unité Mixte de Physique, CNRS, Thales, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
S. Pouget: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
H. Okuno: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
L. Vila: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
C. Vergnaud: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
C. Beigné: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
A. Marty: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
J.-P. Attané: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
S. Gambarelli: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes
J.-M. George: Unité Mixte de Physique, CNRS, Thales, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
H. Jaffrès: Unité Mixte de Physique, CNRS, Thales, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay
S. Blügel: Peter Grünberg Institute and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA
M. Jamet: Institut des Nanosciences et l'Energie Atomique et Cryogénie, INAC, Commissariat á aux Energies Alternatives-Univ. Grenoble Alpes

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The spin–orbit coupling relating the electron spin and momentum allows for spin generation, detection and manipulation. It thus fulfils the three basic functions of the spin field-effect transistor. However, the spin Hall effect in bulk germanium is too weak to produce spin currents, whereas large Rashba effect at Ge(111) surfaces covered with heavy metals could generate spin-polarized currents. The Rashba spin splitting can actually be as large as hundreds of meV. Here we show a giant spin-to-charge conversion in metallic states at the Fe/Ge(111) interface due to the Rashba coupling. We generate very large charge currents by direct spin pumping into the interface states from 20 K to room temperature. The presence of these metallic states at the Fe/Ge(111) interface is demonstrated by first-principles electronic structure calculations. By this, we demonstrate how to take advantage of the spin–orbit coupling for the development of the spin field-effect transistor.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13857 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:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13857

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

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13857

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 ().