We observe a giant spin-orbit splitting in bulk and surface states of the non-centrosymmetric semiconductor BiTeI. We show that the Fermi level can be placed in the valence or in the conduction band by controlling the surface termination. In both cases it intersects spin-polarized bands, in the corresponding surface depletion and accumulation layers. The momentum splitting of these bands is not affected by adsorbate-induced changes in the surface potential. These findings demonstrate that two properties crucial for enabling semiconductor-based spin electronics -- a large, robust spin splitting and ambipolar conduction -- are present in this material.
One of the most fundamental phenomena and a reminder of the electrons relativistic nature is the Rashba spin splitting for broken inversion symmetry. Usually this splitting is a tiny relativistic correction, hardly discernible in experiment. Interfacing a ferroelectric, BaTiO$_3$, and a heavy 5$d$ metal with a large spin-orbit coupling, Ba(Os,Ir)O$_3$, we show that giant Rashba spin splittings are indeed possible and even fully controllable by an external electric field. Based on density functional theory and a microscopic tight binding understanding, we conclude that the electric field is amplified and stored as a ferroelectric Ti-O distortion which, through the network of oxygen octahedra, also induces a large Os-O distortion. The BaTiO$_3$/BaOsO$_3$ heterostructure is hence the ideal test station for studying the fundamentals of the Rashba effect. It allows intriguing application such as the Datta-Das transistor to operate at room temperature.
We study the magneto-optical (MO) response of polar semiconductor BiTeI with giant bulk Rashba spin splitting at various carrier densities. Despite being non-magnetic, the material is found to yield a huge MO activity in the infrared region under moderate magnetic fields (<3 T). By comparison with first-principles calculations, we show that such an enhanced MO response is mainly due to the intraband transitions between the Rashba-split bulk conduction bands in BiTeI, which give rise to distinct novel features and systematic doping dependence of the MO spectra. We further predict an even more pronounced enhancement in the low-energy MO response and dc Hall effect near the crossing (Dirac) point of the conduction bands.
At ambient pressure, BiTeI is the first material found to exhibit a giant Rashba splitting of the bulk electronic bands. At low pressures, BiTeI undergoes a transition from trivial insulator to topological insulator. At still higher pressures, two structural transitions are known to occur. We have carried out a series of electrical resistivity and AC magnetic susceptibility measurements on BiTeI at pressure up to ~40 GPa in an effort to characterize the properties of the high-pressure phases. A previous calculation found that the high-pressure orthorhombic P4/nmm structure BiTeI is a metal. We find that this structure is superconducting with Tc values as high as 6 K. AC magnetic susceptibility measurements support the bulk nature of the superconductivity. Using electronic structure and phonon calculations, we compute Tc and find that our data is consistent with phonon-mediated superconductivity.
Optical excitations of BiTeI with large Rashba spin splitting have been studied in an external magnetic field ($B$) applied parallel to the polar axis. A sequence of transitions between the Landau levels (LLs), whose energies are in proportion to $sqrt{B}$ were observed, being characteristic of massless Dirac electrons. The large separation energy between the LLs makes it possible to detect the strongest cyclotron resonance even at room temperature in moderate fields. Unlike in 2D Dirac systems, the magnetic field induced rearrangement of the conductivity spectrum is directly observed.
We report the observation of Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations in single crystals of the Rashba spin-splitting compound BiTeI, from both longitudinal ($R_{xx}(B)$) and Hall ($R_{xy}(B)$) magnetoresistance. Under magnetic field up to 65 T, we resolved unambiguously only one frequency $F = 284.3pm 1.3$ T, corresponding to a Fermi momentum $k_{F} = 0.093pm 0.002$AA$^{-1}$.The amplitude of oscillations is strongly suppressed by tilting magnetic field, suggesting a highly two-dimensional Fermi surface. Combining with optical spectroscopy, we show that quantum oscillations may be consistent with a bulk conduction band having a Rashba splitting momentum $k_{R}=0.046pm$AA$^{-1}$.