2020/04/30 by Chenghao Shen, Timothy Leeney, Alex Matos-Abiague +4
Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Condensed matter physics #Magnetic field #Magnetization #Magnetoresistance #Parity (physics) #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum tunnelling #Scattering #Symmetry (geometry) #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Topological insulator #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.102.045312
published as Phys. Rev. B 102, 045312 (2020)
openalex publication_date 2020/07/27 · arxiv created 2020/08/24 · arxiv updated 2020/08/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We reveal that the interplay between Rashba spin-orbit coupling and proximity-induced magnetization in a two-dimensional electron gas leads to peculiar transport properties and large anisotropy of magnetoresistance. While the related tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR) has been extensively studied before, we predict an effect with a different origin arising from the evolution of a resonant condition with the in-plane rotation of magnetization and having a much larger magnitude. The resonances in the tunneling emerge from a spin-parity-time symmetry of the scattering states. However, such a symmetry is generally absent from the system itself and only appears for certain parameter values. Without resonant behavior in the topological surface states of a proximitized three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), TAMR measurements can readily distinguish them from often misinterpreted trivial Rashba-like states inherent to many TIs.