Toward surface orbitronics: giant orbital magnetism from the orbital Rashba effect at the surface of sp-metals.

ABSTRACT: As the inversion symmetry is broken at a surface, spin-orbit interaction gives rise to spin-dependent energy shifts - a phenomenon which is known as the spin Rashba effect. Recently, it has been recognized that an orbital counterpart of the spin Rashba effect - the orbital Rashba effect - can be realized at surfaces even without spin-orbit coupling. Here, we propose a mechanism for the orbital Rashba effect based on sp orbital hybridization, which ultimately leads to the electric polarization of surface states. For the experimentally well-studied system of a BiAg₂ monolayer, as a proof of principle, we show from first principles that this effect leads to chiral orbital textures in k-space. In predicting the magnitude of the orbital moment arising from the orbital Rashba effect,

SUBMITTER: Go D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5404270 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature