Interface-based tuning of Rashba spin-orbit interaction in asymmetric oxide heterostructures with 3d electrons

Weinan Lin, Lei Li, Fatih Dogan, Changjian Li, Hélène Rotella, Xiaojiang Yu, Bangmin Zhang, Yangyang Li, Wen Siang Lew, Shijie Wang, Wilfrid Prellier, Stephen J. Pennycook, Jingsheng Chen, Zhicheng Zhong, Aurelien Manchon, Tom Wu

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56 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Rashba effect plays important roles in emerging quantum materials physics and potential spintronic applications, entailing both the spin orbit interaction (SOI) and broken inversion symmetry. In this work, we devise asymmetric oxide heterostructures of LaAlO3//SrTiO3/LaAlO3 (LAO//STO/LAO) to study the Rashba effect in STO with an initial centrosymmetric structure, and broken inversion symmetry is created by the inequivalent bottom and top interfaces due to their opposite polar discontinuities. Furthermore, we report the observation of a transition from the cubic Rashba effect to the coexistence of linear and cubic Rashba effects in the oxide heterostructures, which is controlled by the filling of Ti orbitals. Such asymmetric oxide heterostructures with initially centrosymmetric materials provide a general strategy for tuning the Rashba SOI in artificial quantum materials.
Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalNature Communications
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 11 2019

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