Interfacial spin-orbit fields in ferromagnet/normal metal (FN) and ferromagnet/superconductor (FS) systems

Breaking of space-inversion symmetry at interfaces induces spin-orbit fields as an emergent phenomenon. Interfacial spin-orbit fields are believed to enable a wealth of new phenomena, not existent or fragile in the bulk, such as the tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR), interfacial spin-orbit torques, Skyrmions, or possible realization of topological superconductors. We theoretically investigate spin-polarized transport in FN and FS junctions in the presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus interfacial spin-orbit fields. The interplay of magnetism and spin-orbit fields leads to a marked magnetoanisotropy of the conductances. Remarkably, the anisotropy in FS systems---magnetoanisotropic Andreev reflection (MAAR)---is giant compared to TAMR, its normal-state counterpart in FN junctions [1]. We further report on the dependence of spin-flip probability currents on characteristic system parameters [2].\newline [1] P. H\"{o}gl, A. Matos-Abiague, I. \v{Z}uti\'c, J. Fabian, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{115}, 116601 (2015)\newline [2] A. M. Kamerbeek, P. H\"{o}gl, J. Fabian, T. Banerjee, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{115}, 136601 (2015)