The Giant Spin-to-Charge Conversion of the Layered Rashba Material BiTeI.

Abstract

Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) could facilitate an efficient interconversion between spin and charge currents. Among various systems, BiTeI holds one of the largest Rashba-type spin splittings. Unlike other Rashba systems (e.g., Bi/Ag and Bi2Se3), an experimental investigation of the spin-to-charge interconversion in BiTeI remains to be explored. Through performing an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurement, such a large Rashba-type spin splitting with a Rashba parameter αR = 3.68 eV Å is directly identified. By studying the spin pumping effect in the BiTeI/NiFe bilayer, we reveal a very large inverse Rashba-Edelstein length λIREE ≈ 1.92 nm of BiTeI at room temperature. Furthermore, the λIREE monotonously increases to 5.00 nm at 60 K, indicating an enhanced Rashba SOC at low temperature. These results suggest that BiTeI films with the giant Rashba SOC are promising for achieving efficient spin-to-charge interconversion, which could be implemented for building low-power-consumption spin-orbitronic devices.