Spin orientation and sign of the Rashba splitting in Bi/Cu(111)

Bentmann, H.; Kuzumaki, T.; Chulkov, E. V.; Bihlmayer, G.; Reinert, F.; Sakamoto, K.; Blügel, S.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.84.115426

Journal Article

Spin orientation and sign of the Rashba splitting in Bi/Cu(111)

Bentmann, H.FZJ* ; Kuzumaki, T. ; Bihlmayer, G.FZJ* ; Blügel, S.FZJ* ; Chulkov, E. V. ; Reinert, F. ; Sakamoto, K.

2011
APS College Park, Md.

Physical review / B 84(11), 115426 (2011) [10.1103/PhysRevB.84.115426]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/10915 doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.84.115426

Abstract: Whereas the magnitude of the Rashba spin splitting at surfaces has been studied in detail, less is known about its sign which determines the precise spin orientation of the electronic states. We investigate the microscopic origin of this sign by spin-resolved photoemission experiments and first-principles calculations on the strongly spin-orbit coupled surface states in Bi/Cu(111). We conclude that the sign of the Rashba splitting is determined by the particular charge asymmetry near the atomic cores. The precise spin orientation on heavy-element surfaces thus can comprise information on wave-function localizations and related aspects otherwise hardly accessible by other experimental methods.

Keyword(s): J

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Physics, Condensed Matter

Note: We gratefully acknowledge experimental support by Ryusei Tateishi and Yuta Yamamoto. G.B. would like to thank Hugo Dil for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) 20244045, the G-COE programs (G-03), the Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (Grant Nos. 05K10WW1/2 and 05KS1WMB/1), and the Deutsche Forschunsgsgemeinschaft (FOR 1162). H.B. acknowledges support by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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