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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 45: Poster IV: One-Dimensional Metals: Reality or Fiction

DS 45.11: Poster

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 16:00–19:00, P1

Rashba splitting and relativistic energy shifts in In/Si(111) nanowires — •Nora Jenny Vollmers, Andreas Lücke, Uwe Gerstmann, and Wolf Gero Schmidt — Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Physik, Universität Paderborn, Germany

The electronic properties of quasi-1D systems are of both scientific interest and technological relevance, e.g., for atomic-scale interconnects. The ordered array of In "nanowires" formed upon room temperature (RT) In monolayer deposition on Si(111) substrates and sub-sequent annealing is one of the most intensively investigated model systems in this context. We investigate the influence of relativistic effects, notably the spin-orbit coupling, on the energetics and electronic properties of the In nanowires. Spin-orbit (SO) coupling is well-known to be the driving force behind ferromagnetism und can be used to control the functionality of electronic devices in spintronics. On the other hand, spin-split electron gases may form in asymmetric quantum wells or at surfaces and give rise to the so-called Rashba-(Bychkov) effect even in non-magnetic materials: The break of the spatial symmetry caused by the surface in conjunction with the SO related break of time reversal symmetry lifts the spin degeneracy. Here it is shown that in case of In/Si(111) nanowires – due to an enlarged out-of-plane potential gradient caused by structural anisotropies of the In nanowires – a pronounced splitting of the Rashba type is found at the X point, i.e., at the Brillouin zone boundary.