print

Properties of the spin-momentum locked state

By: Mauro M. Doria
From: Instituto de Física - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
At: Online - Zoom (https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/89309150748)
[2021-10-26] 15:00

Recently there has been growing evidence that spin is locked perpendicularly to the momentum (spin momentum locking) in several condensed matter systems such as, topological insulators [1, 2], evanescent electromagnetic waves [3, 4] and high-temperature cuprate superconductors [5]. The development of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy able to also determine the spin (SARPES) has been instrumental to detect spin-momentum locking in such systems [5]. In this seminar I show that the existence of a local magnetic field is a direct consequence of the spin-momentum locking condition. Although residual, this local magnetic field is important because it brings the topological stability that transforms particles into quasi-particles. The present approach shows that the Rashba term is already contained in the Schrödinger kinetic energy and a Dirac linear spectrum can be obtained without invoking a Dirac equation for the particles. These are consequences of the so-called three-term decomposition theorem, also known as the Lichnerowicz-Weitzenböck decomposition [6], which states that the Schrödinger kinetic energy is the sum of the square of the spin-momentum interaction, plus the curvature interaction, and the Rashba term or spin-orbit interaction [7, 8].

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