Observation of inverse Edelstein effect in Rashba-split 2DEG between SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 at room temperature

Qi Song; Hongrui Zhang; Tang Su; Wei Yuan; Yangyang Chen; Wenyu Xing; Jing Shi; Jirong Sun; Wei Han

doi:10.1126/sciadv.1602312

Observation of inverse Edelstein effect in Rashba-split 2DEG between SrTiO₃ and LaAlO₃ at room temperature

Sci Adv. 2017 Mar 17;3(3):e1602312. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1602312. eCollection 2017 Mar.

Authors

Qi Song¹, Hongrui Zhang², Tang Su¹, Wei Yuan¹, Yangyang Chen¹, Wenyu Xing¹, Jing Shi³, Jirong Sun², Wei Han¹

Affiliations

¹ International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, China.
² Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.

Abstract

The Rashba physics has been intensively studied in the field of spin orbitronics for the purpose of searching novel physical properties and the ferromagnetic (FM) magnetization switching for technological applications. We report our observation of the inverse Edelstein effect up to room temperature in the Rashba-split two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) between two insulating oxides, SrTiO₃ and LaAlO₃, with the LaAlO₃ layer thickness from 3 to 40 unit cells (UC). We further demonstrate that the spin voltage could be markedly manipulated by electric field effect for the 2DEG between SrTiO₃ and 3-UC LaAlO₃. These results demonstrate that the Rashba-split 2DEG at the complex oxide interface can be used for efficient charge-and-spin conversion at room temperature for the generation and detection of spin current.

Keywords: Complex oxide interfaces; Inverse Edelstein Effect; Rahsba 2DEG; Spin-and-charge conversion; Spintronics; SrTiO3/LaAlO3 heterostructure; spin manipulation.