Large Spin-to-Charge Conversion Induced by Hybrid Rashba- and Surface-State in Topological Insulator Heterostructures

ORAL

Abstract

Efficient spin-to-charge conversion at room temperature is of great value in spintronics applications. Recently, Topological insulators (TIs) have emerged as some of the most efficient spin-to-charge convertors because of their correlated spin-momentum locking at helical Dirac surface states. While endeavors have been made to pursue large “charge-to-spin” conversions in novel TI materials using spin-torque-transfer geometries, the reciprocal process “spinto-charge” conversion, characterized by the inverse Edelstein effect length (λIEE) in the prototypical TI material (Bi2Se3), remains moderate. Here, we demonstrate that, by incorporating a “second” spin-splitting band, namely, a Rashba interface formed by inserting a bismuth interlayer between the ferromagnet and the Bi2Se3 (i.e., ferromagnet/Bi/Bi2Se3 heterostructure), λIEE shows a pronounced increase (up to 280 pm) compared with that in pure TIs. We found that λIEE alters as a function of bismuth interlayer thickness, suggesting a new degree of freedom to manipulate λIEE by engineering the interplay of Rashba and Dirac surface states. Our finding launches a new route for designing TI- and Rashba-type quantum materials for next-generation spintronic applications.

Presenters

  • Rui Sun

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences

Authors

  • Rui Sun

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Shijia Yang

    • North Carolina State University, Department of Physics
    • North Carolina State University
  • Yang Xu

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Eric Vetter

    • North Carolina State University, Department of Physics
    • Physics, North Carolina State University
    • North Carolina State University
  • Dali Sun

    • North Carolina State University, Department of Physics
    • Physics, North Carolina State University
    • North Carolina State University
  • li na

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Lei Su

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
  • Yan Li

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
  • Yang Li

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
  • Zizhao Gong

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Zongkai Xie

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
  • Qeemat Gul

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
  • Wei He

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Xiangqun Zhang

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Zhaohua Cheng

    • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • State Key Lab. of Magnetism, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences