Controllable Rashba spin-orbit interaction in artificially engineered superlattices CeCoIn$_{5}$/YbCoIn$_{5}$
ORAL
Abstract
Recently the inversion symmetry breaking (ISB) together with strong spin-orbit interaction is suggested to affect the electron pairing in superconductivity, leading to various physical phenomena. However, it is hard to tune the degree of ISB in bulk crystals because the degree is determined by the crystal structure itself. Here, by using the molecular beam epitaxy technology, we fabricate artificial heavy fermion superlattices with the alternating layers of heavy fermion CeCoIn$_{5}$ and nonmagnetic metal YbCoIn$_{5}$ with atomic scale thicknesses. We demonstrate that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction arising from ISB is largely tunable by introduction of the thickness modulation in YbCoIn$_{5}$ block-layers, which leads to profound changes in the nature of the superconductivity.
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