Author(s): Yuan, LD (Yuan, Linding); Liu, QH (Liu, Qihang); Zhang, XW (Zhang, Xiuwen); Luo, JW (Luo, Jun-Wei); Li, SS (Li, Shu-Shen); Zunger, A (Zunger, Alex)
Source: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS Volume: 10 Article Number: 906 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08836-4 Published: FEB 22 2019
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.
全文链接：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08836-4