Spin-orbit-induced spin splittings in polar transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers

Yingchun Cheng, Zhiyong Zhu, Muhammad Tahir, Udo Schwingenschlögl

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378 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Rashba effect in quasi two-dimensional materials, such as noble metal surfaces and semiconductor heterostructures, has been investigated extensively, while interest in real two-dimensional systems has just emerged with the discovery of graphene. We present ab initio electronic structure, phonon, and molecular-dynamics calculations to study the structural stability and spin-orbit-induced spin splitting in the transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers MXY (M = Mo, W and X, Y = S, Se, Te). In contrast to the non-polar systems with X = Y, in the polar systems with X ≠ Y the Rashba splitting at the Γ-point for the uppermost valence band is caused by the broken mirror symmetry. An enhancement of the splitting can be achieved by increasing the spin-orbit coupling and/or the potential gradient. © Copyright EPLA, 2013.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)57001
JournalEPL (Europhysics Letters)
Volume102
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 12 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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