corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. B » Volume 79 » Issue 7
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. B 79, 075424 (2009) [6 pages]

Assessing the atomic contribution to the Rashba spin-orbit splitting in surface alloys: Sb/Ag(111)

Download: PDF (378 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

L. Moreschini1, A. Bendounan2, I. Gierz3, C. R. Ast3, H. Mirhosseini4, H. Höchst5, K. Kern3, J. Henk4, A. Ernst4, S. Ostanin4, F. Reinert6, and M. Grioni1
1Institut de Physique des Nanostructures, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
2Experimentelle Physik II, Universität Würzburg Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany and Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin, BP 48, F-91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
3Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
4Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
5Synchrotron Radiation Center, University of Wisconsin, Stoughton, Wisconsin 53589, USA
6Experimentelle Physik II, Universität Würzburg Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany and Gemeinschaftslabor für Nanoanalytik, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany

Received 20 October 2008; published 11 February 2009

We have studied the electronic structure of the Ag(111)(√3×√3)R30°-Sb surface alloy by angle-resolved photoemission. We find two hybrid surface bands, similar to the isostructural Ag(111)-Bi interface. The spin-orbit coupling induced spin splitting in momentum space, however, is strongly reduced from the Bi case. First-principles and model band calculations correctly reproduce this difference. The present results illustrate the complex interplay of atomic and structural contributions at the origin of the large spin separation in these systems.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.075424
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.79.075424
PACS:
73.20.At, 79.60.−i, 71.70.Ej
 
< Previous Article | Next Article >