Band splitting with vanishing spin polarizations in noncentrosymmetric crystals.

ABSTRACT: The Dresselhaus and Rashba effects are well-known phenomena in solid-state physics, in which spin-orbit coupling splits spin-up and spin-down energy bands of nonmagnetic non-centrosymmetric crystals. Here, we discuss a phenomenon we dub band splitting with vanishing spin polarizations (BSVSP), in which, as usual, spin-orbit coupling splits the energy bands in nonmagnetic non-centrosymmetric systems. Surprisingly, however, both split bands show no net spin polarization along certain high-symmetry lines in the Brillouin zone. In order to rationalize this phenomenon, we propose a classification of point groups into pseudo-polar and non-pseudo-polar groups. By means of first-principles simulations, we demonstrate that BSVSP can take place in both symmorphic (e.g., bulk GaAs) and non-symmorphic

SUBMITTER: Liu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6854082 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature