Insulator-to-conductor transition driven by the Rashba–Zeeman effect

Abstract

The Rashba effect has recently attracted great attention owing to emerging physical properties associated with it. The interplay between the Rashba effect and the Zeeman effect, being produced by the exchange field, is expected to broaden the range of these properties and even result in novel phenomena. Here we predict an insulator-to-conductor transition driven by the Rashba–Zeeman effect. We first illustrate this effect using a general Hamiltonian model and show that the insulator-to-conductor transition can be triggered under certain Rashba and exchange-field strengths. Then, we exemplify this phenomenon by considering an Ag2Te/Cr2O3 heterostructure, where the electronic structure of the Ag2Te monolayer is affected across the interface by the proximity effect of the Cr2O3 antiferromagnetic layer with well-defined surface magnetization. Based on first-principles calculations, we predict that such a system can be driven into either insulating or conducting phase, depending on the surface magnetization orientation of the Cr2O3 layer. Our results enrich the Rashba–Zeeman physics and provide useful guidelines for the realization of the insulator-to-conductor transition, which may be interesting for experimental verification.

Unravelling Rashba-Dresselhaus Splitting Assisted Magneto-Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting in Asymmetric MoSSe-GaN Heterostructures

“…15 Therefore, a momentum-dependent Rashba splitting along with momentum-independent Zeeman splitting could lead to a new domain of spin physics. 16 The Zeeman splitting energy is very low (∼0.1 meV/T) for nonmagnetic materials, whereas exchange fields arising from magnetic proximity effects in magnetically doped materials, ferromagnetic or anti-ferromagnetic, offer a non-negligible Zeeman splitting. 17 Apart from spintronics, spin manipulation also has enormous potential in electrochemistry; however, it is limited by selective magnetic materials 18 or deals with the chiralityinduced spin selectivity (CISS) property of the chiral molecules.…”

“…On the other hand, an external magnetic field for spin manipulation leads to Zeeman splitting and lifting the valley degeneracy . Therefore, a momentum-dependent Rashba splitting along with momentum-independent Zeeman splitting could lead to a new domain of spin physics . The Zeeman splitting energy is very low (∼0.1 meV/T) for nonmagnetic materials, whereas exchange fields arising from magnetic proximity effects in magnetically doped materials, ferromagnetic or anti-ferromagnetic, offer a non-negligible Zeeman splitting …”

High throughput inverse design and Bayesian optimization of functionalities: spin splitting in two-dimensional compounds

“…To guarantee the global preservation of time-reversal symmetry (common DP-b -see intersection region in Figure 2), magnetic compounds are eliminated from the previous list of 500 non-centrosymmetric compounds. The time-reversal symmetry breaking can induce SS that are not necessarily induced by the spin-orbit coupling (e.g., the Zeeman effect 45 and the anti-ferromagnetic-induced SS 46,47 ). Naturally, our approach can be extended to magnetic compounds by considering a complete analysis of magnetic point group symmetry.…”

Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction via photoelectrochemical water splitting utilizing asymmetric MoSSe under a low external magnetic field

“…3,[8][9][10] The Rashba effect, a momentum-dependent spin splitting of the energy bands induced by SOC, has opened a new horizon for fundamental research and device innovations. 11,12 In contrast, the Zeeman effect is a momentumindependent spin splitting of energy bands related to spin interaction with an external and/or effective magnetic eld. [10][11][12][13] The Rashba effect is induced by the intrinsic out-of-plane electric eld due to space-inversion asymmetry and appears in surfaces, interfaces, quantum wells, and even in bulk materials.…”