Klimovshikh, I. I., Shikin, A. M., Otrokov, M. M., Ernst, A., Rusinov, I. P., Tereshchenko, O. E., Golyashov, V. A., Sanchez-Barriga, J., Varykhalov, A. Yu., Rader, O., Kokh, K. A., Chulkov, E. V.
Giant magnetic band gap in the Rashba-split surface state of vanadium-doped BiTel: A combined photoemission and ab initio study
Scientific Reports 7, pp 3353/1-8 (2017)
One of the most promising platforms for spintronics and topological quantum computation is the twodimensional electron gas (2DEG) with strong spin-orbit interaction and out-of-plane ferromagnetism.
In proximity to an s-wave superconductor, such 2DEG may be driven into a topologically non-trivial
superconducting phase, predicted to support zero-energy Majorana fermion modes. Using angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy and ab initio calculations, we study the 2DEG at the surface of
the vanadium-doped polar semiconductor with a giant Rashba-type splitting, BiTeI. We show that
the vanadium-induced magnetization in the 2DEG breaks time-reversal symmetry, lifting Kramers
degeneracy of the Rashba-split surface state at the Brillouin zone center via formation of a huge gap
of about 90 meV. As a result, the constant energy contour inside the gap consists of only one circle
with spin-momentum locking. These findings reveal a great potential of the magnetically-doped
semiconductors with a giant Rashba-type splitting for realization of novel states of matter.
TH-2017-20