Unconventional spin texture in a non-centrosymmetric quantum spin Hall insulator

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new non-centrosymmetric quantum spin Hall insulator with an unconventional spin texture that suppresses backscattering, promising advancements in low-energy-loss spintronic devices.

Contribution

It proposes a novel family of QSH insulators with combined Rashba and band inversion effects, featuring large spin-splitting and a nontrivial band gap.

Findings

Large Rashba spin-splitting of 60 meV

Nontrivial band gap of 0.14 eV

Suppressed backscattering in edge and bulk states

Abstract

We proposed that the simultaneous presence of both Rashba and band inversion can lead to a Rashba-like spin-splitting formed by two bands with the same in-plane helical spin texture. Because of this unconventional spin texture, the backscattering is forbidden in edge and bulk conductivity channels. We propose a new non-centrosymmetric honeycomb-lattice quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator family formed by the IV, V, and VII elements with this property. The system formed by Bi, Pb and I atoms is mechanically stable and has both a large Rashba spin-splitting of 60 meV and a large nontrivial band gap of 0.14 eV. Since the edge and the bulk states are protected by the TR symmetry, contrary to what happens in most doped QSH insulators, the bulk states do not contribute to the backscattering in the electronic transport, allowing the construction of a spintronic device with less energy loss.