Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 15: Spin-Orbit Interaction at Surfaces II
O 15.2: Talk
Monday, March 22, 2010, 15:15–15:30, H38
Spin-orbit coupling and Rashba effect in graphene: Ab initio model studies — •Samir Abdelouahed1, Hossein Mirhosseini1, Igor V. Maznichenko2, Arthur Ernst1, and Jürgen Henk1 — 1Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, Germany — 2Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
Significant spin-orbit effects have been found experimentally in graphene, e. g. Rashba-type splittings at the Dirac point. Because the atomic spin-orbit coupling of carbon is very weak, additional mechanisms must come into question to explain these splittings. Theoretical studies already addressed these mechanisms but sometimes relied on empirical methods.
Here, we report on a first-principles investigation of spin-orbit coupling in graphene, in which various ingredients of Rashba-type effects are systematically considered. Besides a potential gradient normal to the carbon sheet which gives rise to the conventional Rashba effect, an in-plane potential gradient and corrugation effects are discussed.