Magnetic control of spin-orbit fields: a first-principles study of Fe/GaAs junctions

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to analyze how the spin-orbit fields at the Fe/GaAs interface depend on magnetization orientation, revealing potential for magnetic control of spin-orbit effects in spintronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a symmetry-based method to determine spin-orbit fields from electronic band structures for various magnetization orientations, highlighting their dependence on magnetization and electric fields.

Findings

Spin-orbit fields vary with magnetization orientation.

Magnetization strongly influences spin-orbit field magnitude and direction.

Results suggest new ways to control spin-orbit phenomena in ferromagnetic systems.

Abstract

The microscopic structure of spin-orbit fields for the technologically important Fe/GaAs interface is uncovered from first principles. A symmetry based method allows to obtain the spin-orbit fields---both their magnitude and orientation---for a generic Bloch state, from the electronic band structure for any in-plane magnetization orientation. It is demonstrated that the spin-orbit fields depend not only on the electric field across the interface, but also surprisingly strongly on the Fe magnetization orientation, opening prospects for their magnetic control. These results give important clues in searching for spin-orbit transport and optical phenomena in ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic systems.