Giant spin splitting of the two-dimensional electron gas at the surface of SrTiO3

Two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) forming at the interfaces of transition metal oxides exhibit a range of properties, including tunable insulator-superconductor-metal transitions, large magnetoresistance, coexisting ferromagnetism and superconductivity, and a spin splitting of a few meV (refs 1...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature materials 2014-12, Vol.13 (12), p.1085-1090
Main Authors: Santander-Syro, A F, Fortuna, F, Bareille, C, Rödel, T C, Landolt, G, Plumb, N C, Dil, J H, Radović, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical compounds
Condensed Matter
Electrons
Materials science
Physics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) forming at the interfaces of transition metal oxides exhibit a range of properties, including tunable insulator-superconductor-metal transitions, large magnetoresistance, coexisting ferromagnetism and superconductivity, and a spin splitting of a few meV (refs 10, 11). Strontium titanate (SrTiO3), the cornerstone of such oxide-based electronics, is a transparent, non-magnetic, wide-bandgap insulator in the bulk, and has recently been found to host a surface 2DEG (refs 12-15). The most strongly confined carriers within this 2DEG comprise two subbands, separated by an energy gap of 90 meV and forming concentric circular Fermi surfaces. Using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES), we show that the electron spins in these subbands have opposite chiralities. Although the Rashba effect might be expected to give rise to such spin textures, the giant splitting of almost 100 meV at the Fermi level is far larger than anticipated. Moreover, in contrast to a simple Rashba system, the spin-polarized subbands are non-degenerate at the Brillouin zone centre. This degeneracy can be lifted by time-reversal symmetry breaking, implying the possible existence of magnetic order. These results show that confined electronic states at oxide surfaces can be endowed with novel, non-trivial properties that are both theoretically challenging to anticipate and promising for technological applications.
ISSN:1476-1122
1476-4660
DOI:10.1038/nmat4107