2020/04/08 by Carlos Mera Acosta, Elton Ogoshi, Adalberto Fazzio +3 · 48 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions #Chemical and Physical Properties of Materials #Electronic band structure #Energy (signal processing) #Identification (biology) #Rashba effect #Relevance (law) #Spin (aerodynamics) #Symmetry (geometry) #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.matt.2020.05.006
published in Matter 3(1), 145-165 (Elsevier BV) · 24 pages and 9 figures
arxiv created 2020/04/08 · openalex created_date 2020/04/24 · openalex publication_date 2020/07/01 · arxiv updated 2020/09/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The spin-orbit -induced spin splitting of energy bands in low symmetry compounds (the Rashba Effect) has a long-standing relevance to spintronic applications and to the fundamental understanding of symmetry breaking in solids, yet the knowledge of what controls its magnitude in different materials is difficult to anticipate. Indeed, rare discoveries of compounds with large Rashba coefficients are invariably greeted as pleasant surprises. We advance the understanding of the "Rashba Scale" using the "inverse design" approach by formulating theoretically the relevant design principle and then identifying compounds that satisfy it. We show that the presence of energy band anti-crossing provides a causal design principle of compounds with large Rashba coefficients, leading to the identification via first-principles calculations of 34 rationally designed strong-Rashba compounds. Since topological insulators must have band anti crossing, this leads us to establish an interesting cross functionality of "Topological Rashba Insulators" (TRI) that may provide a platform for the simultaneous control of spin splitting and spin-polarization.