Electronically driven spin-reorientation transition of the correlated polar metal Ca3Ru2O7
Speaker: Prof. Philip King, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews (UK)
Host: Craig Polley, scientist at the BLOCH beamline.
Monday, 14 December 2020 at 13:45 CET – https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/61349123545
Keywords: spin-orbit coupling in solids, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
The influence of spin-orbit coupling in solids has become the subject of much attention in recent years. When combined with a breaking of inversion symmetry, it can lift the spin degeneracy of electronic states via the so-called Rashba effect, with potential applications in spin-generation and manipulation, spin-transfer torques, and the formation of topological states.1 Here, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, I will demonstrate how Rashba-type spin-orbit interactions mediate a dramatic reconstruction of the Fermi surface accompanying at a spin-reorientation phase transition in the correlated polar metal Ca3Ru2O7,2 pointing to a new form of magneto-electronic coupling, and highlighting the delicate balance between symmetry-breaking, electronic correlations, and spin-orbit coupling in solids.