Interference of spin states in photoemission from Sb/Ag(111)

TL;DR

This study demonstrates interference effects of spin states in photoemission from Sb/Ag(111), revealing complex spin polarization phenomena due to small Rashba-type splitting and coherent spin rotations, largely unaffected by photon energy or polarization.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence for spin state interference in photoemission from Sb/Ag(111), highlighting the role of intrinsic overlap and coherent spin rotation effects.

Findings

Observation of spin state interference in photoemission.

Large spin polarization component normal to Rashba axis.

Independence of effects from photon energy and polarization.

Abstract

Using a three-dimensional spin polarimeter we have gathered evidence for the interference of spin states in photoemission from the surface alloy Sb/Ag(111). This system features a small Rashba-type spin-splitting of a size comparable to the linewidth of the quasiparticles, thus causing an intrinsic overlap between states with orthogonal spinors. Besides a small spin polarization caused by the spin-splitting, we observe a large spin polarization component in the plane normal to the quantization axis provided by the Rashba effect. Strongly suggestive of coherent spin rotation, this effect is largely independent of the photon energy and photon polarization.