Abstract
Joint action of spin-orbit coupling and exchange magnetic interactions leads to a complex spin structure of electronic states, which is challenging to disentangle. Here, the authors show that in the presence of an in-plane magnetization, the effective spin-orbit and exchange fields create an asymmetry of the surface state dispersions that enables determination of the spin structure of these states without the use of a spin-sensitive instrument. The proposed approach can be a versatile tool for studying magnetic materials with strong relativistic effects.
Highlights
The successful development of spintronic applications, where the electron spin plays the key role, requires the elaboration of novel magnetically active materials with tunable spin-dependent properties [1,2]
We have demonstrated a concept for determining the spin structure of electronic surface states, which experience both SO and magnetic exchange interactions
Our analysis of the band dispersions obtained from ARPES measurements allows us to gain detailed information on the spin structure and effective SO field
Summary
The successful development of spintronic applications, where the electron spin plays the key role, requires the elaboration of novel magnetically active materials with tunable spin-dependent properties [1,2]. The most direct way to gain insight into the momentum-resolved properties of electron spins is spin- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-ARPES) [13] With this method, difficulties arise from the choice of the geometry of the experiment and the resulting matrix element effects which should be accurately considered when conclusions on the spin expectation value in the ground state are derived [14,15,16]. Difficulties arise from the choice of the geometry of the experiment and the resulting matrix element effects which should be accurately considered when conclusions on the spin expectation value in the ground state are derived [14,15,16] To this end, it is useful to evaluate the experimental results by comparison to ab initio calculations of the spin-polarized photocurrent performed in the frame of a one-step theory of photoemission, which, is a difficult task. Our analysis shows that information on the spin structure of surface states derived from conventional ARPES measurements is rather similar to that obtained from SRARPES measurements complemented by calculations of the spin-polarized photocurrent [16]
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