Giant spin splitting, strong valley selective circular dichroism and valley-spin coupling induced in silicene

Abstract

Silicene is a potential candidate for valleytronics. However, in comparison with the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), silicene has a tiny energy gap and zero spin splitting at its Dirac valleys, being unfavorable for valleytronic applications. Based on first principles calculations, we find that by proximity with Bi(111) bilayer, the Dirac valleys of silicene acquire a sizable energy gap and giant spin splittings, which are even larger than the splittings of $\mathrm{Mo}{\mathrm{S}}_{2}$. Our calculations show that the silicene over Bi layer exhibits a strong valley-contrasting circular dichroism, enabling selective optical pumping of valley carriers. Due to the time reversal symmetry and the breaking of inversion symmetry, the Berry curvatures and the spin splittings are opposite at the $K$ and ${K}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ valleys of silicene, and hence the valley and spin are locked and can be simultaneously polarized. In this way, silicene and likely other similar Dirac materials can be comparable to TMDs in valleytronics, which not only adds a new dimension to the properties of silicene but also expands the members of the valleytronic family.