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Engineering relativistic effects in ferroelectric SnTe

E. Plekhanov, P. Barone, D. Di Sante, and S. Picozzi
Phys. Rev. B 90, 161108(R) – Published 28 October 2014
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Abstract

Spin-orbit coupling is increasingly seen as a rich source of novel phenomena, as shown by the recent excitement around topological insulators and Rashba effects. We here show that the addition of ferroelectric degrees of freedom to a semiconductor featuring topologically nontrivial properties, such as SnTe, merges the intriguing field of spin-orbit-driven physics with nonvolatile functionalities appealing for spintronics. By using a variety of modeling techniques, we show that a strikingly rich sequence of phases can be induced in SnTe, when going from a room-temperature cubic phase to a low-temperature ferroelectric structure, ranging from a topological crystalline insulator to a time-reversal-invariant Z2 topological insulator to a “ferroelectric Rashba semiconductor,” exhibiting a huge electrically controllable Rashba effect in the bulk band structure.

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  • Received 3 February 2014
  • Revised 8 May 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.161108

©2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

E. Plekhanov1, P. Barone1, D. Di Sante1,2, and S. Picozzi1

  • 1Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR-SPIN, I-67100 L'Aquila, Italy
  • 2Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, I-67100 L'Aquila, Italy

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Issue

Vol. 90, Iss. 16 — 15 October 2014

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