2017/03/15 by Y. Kohsaka, T. Machida, Katsuya Iwaya +5 · 35 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Aerospace engineering #Computer science #Condensed matter physics #Crystallography and Radiation Phenomena #Engineering #Interference (communication) #Magnetic properties of thin films #Orbit (dynamics) #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quasiparticle #Scattering #Spin (aerodynamics) #Telecommunications #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.95.115307
published in Physical review. B./Physical review. B 95(11) (American Physical Society) · 21 pages, 6 figures
openalex publication_date 2017/03/15 · arxiv created 2017/03/18 · arxiv updated 2017/03/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In the presence of spin-orbit coupling, electron scattering off impurities depends on both spin and orbital angular momentum of electrons---spin-orbit scattering. Although some transport properties are subject to spin-orbit scattering, experimental techniques directly accessible to this effect are limited. Here we show that a signature of spin-orbit scattering manifests itself in quasiparticle interference (QPI) imaged by spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy. The experimental data of a polar semiconductor BiTeI are well reproduced by numerical simulations with the T-matrix formalism that include not only scalar scattering normally adopted but also spin-orbit scattering stronger than scalar scattering. To accelerate the simulations, we extend the standard efficient method of QPI calculation for momentum-independent scattering to be applicable even for spin-orbit scattering. We further identify a selection rule that makes spin-orbit scattering visible in the QPI pattern. These results demonstrate that spin-orbit scattering can exert predominant influence on QPI patterns and thus suggest that QPI measurement is available to detect spin-orbit scattering.