Giant Rashba-Type Spin Splitting in Ferroelectric GeTe(111)

Abstract

Photoelectron spectroscopy in combination with piezoforce microscopy reveals that the helicity of Rashba bands is coupled to the nonvolatile ferroelectric polarization of GeTe(111). A novel surface Rashba band is found and fingerprints of a bulk Rashba band are identified by comparison with density functional theory calculations.

Keywords: Rashba effect; ferroelectricity; photoelectron spectroscopy; piezoforce microscopy.