Theory Department
Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
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Ast, C. R., Henk, J., Ernst, A., Moreschini, L., Falub, M. C., Pacilé, D., Bruno, P., Kern, K., Grioni, M.

Giant spin splitting through surface alloying
Physical Review Letters 98, (18),pp 186807/1-4 (2007)
The long-range ordered surface alloy Bi/AG(111) is found to exhibit a giant spin splitting of its surface electronic structure due to spin-orbit coupling, as is determined by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. First-principles electronic structure calculations fully confirm the experimental findings. The effect is brought about by a strong in-plane gradient of the crystal potential in the surface layer, in interplay with the structural asymmetry due to the surface-potential barrier. As a result, the spin polarization of the surface states is considerably rotated out of the surface plane.

TH-2007-09