Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 94: Low-Dimensional Systems: Oxide Hetero-Interfaces

TT 94.7: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 16:45–17:00, HSZ 204

Spin-orbit coupling in 2DEGs at a polar/non-polar oxide interface — •Kourosh Rahmanizadeh, Gustav Bihlmayer, Daniel Wortmann, and Stefan Blügel — Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-1) & Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, 52425 Jülich, Germany

The investigation of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the polar / non-polar oxide interface (e.g. the discovery of highly mobile electrons at the LaAlO₃ / SrTiO₃ interface) is attractive for spintronic applications. Similar to the 2DEGs formed in semiconductor heterostructures, Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) can have a big impact for the magnetotransport properties at these oxide interfaces [1]. Moreover, the combination of Rashba SOC and magnetic (or exchange) fields offer unique properties sought for in the hunt for Majorana fermions [2]. The BiAlO₃ (BAO) exhibits the same polar layers as LaAlO₃. The ferroelectricity of the material further allows to manipulate the carrier density at the interface. Using density functional theory, we investigated the 2DEG in BAO/SrTiO₃, BAO/EuTiO₃ and BAO/Sr₂NiWO₆ heterostructures. In the latter two structures, the proximity to ferroelectric insulators breaks the time-reversal symmetry in the 2DEG and leads, in combination with Rashba SOC to a single Fermi surface, analogous to the situation in topological insulators. Financial support of the EU grant NMP3-LA-2010-246102 (IFOX) is gratefully acknowledged.
A. D. Caviglia et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 126803 (2010).
J. D. Sau et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 040502 (2010).