First-principles Study of Rashba Spin Splitting at Strained SrTiO₃(001) Surfaces

Abstract

We investigated the Rashba spin splittings in a compressive-strained SrTiO₃(001) ultra thin-film using first-principles calculations. The effect of the polarization due to the compressive strain leads to the 2DEG with large Rashba spin splittings, where the sheet carrier density is of the same order of magnitude as that of the heterostructure LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ (∼10¹⁴ cm⁻²). Some localized surface states (SSs) show the giant Rashba coefficient α_R larger than 100 meVÅ. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2018.360]