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Sheverdyaeva PM, Hogan C, Bihlmayer G, Fujii J, Vobornik I, Jugovac M, Kundu AK, Gardonio S, Benher ZR, Santo GD, Gonzalez S, Petaccia L, Carbone C, Moras P. Giant and Tunable Out-of-Plane Spin Polarization of Topological Antimonene. NANO LETTERS 2023; 23:6277-6283. [PMID: 37459226 PMCID: PMC10375579 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c00153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/27/2023]
Abstract
Topological insulators are bulk insulators with metallic and fully spin-polarized surface states displaying Dirac-like band dispersion. Due to spin-momentum locking, these topological surface states (TSSs) have a predominant in-plane spin polarization in the bulk fundamental gap. Here, we show by spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy that the TSS of a topological insulator interfaced with an antimonene bilayer exhibits nearly full out-of-plane spin polarization within the substrate gap. We connect this phenomenon to a symmetry-protected band crossing of the spin-polarized surface states. The nearly full out-of-plane spin polarization of the TSS occurs along a continuous path in the energy-momentum space, and the spin polarization within the gap can be reversibly tuned from nearly full out-of-plane to nearly full in-plane by electron doping. These findings pave the way to advanced spintronics applications that exploit the giant out-of-plane spin polarization of TSSs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Polina M Sheverdyaeva
- Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM-CNR), Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Conor Hogan
- Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM-CNR), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma "Tor Vergata", Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
| | - Gustav Bihlmayer
- Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
| | - Jun Fujii
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR, Laboratorio TASC, Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Ivana Vobornik
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)-CNR, Laboratorio TASC, Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Matteo Jugovac
- Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM-CNR), Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
- Peter Grünberg Institut PGI, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
| | - Asish K Kundu
- Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM-CNR), Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
- International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, 34151, Italy
| | - Sandra Gardonio
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 11c, Ajdovščina 5270, Slovenia
| | - Zipporah Rini Benher
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 11c, Ajdovščina 5270, Slovenia
| | - Giovanni Di Santo
- Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Sara Gonzalez
- Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Luca Petaccia
- Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Carlo Carbone
- Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM-CNR), Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Paolo Moras
- Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM-CNR), Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy
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