Rashba splitting of 100 meV in Au-intercalated graphene on SiC

TL;DR

This paper reports a significant 100 meV Rashba spin-orbit splitting in Au-intercalated graphene on SiC, achieved through hybridization effects, marking a notable advancement in spintronic material engineering.

Contribution

It demonstrates the realization of giant Rashba splitting in graphene on a semiconductor substrate, expanding the potential for spintronic applications.

Findings

Achieved 100 meV Rashba splitting in Au-intercalated graphene on SiC

Identified hybridization as the cause of the large splitting

Compared the splitting's extent to that on Ni substrates

Abstract

Intercalation of Au can produce giant Rashba-type spin-orbit splittings in graphene but this has not yet been achieved on a semiconductor substrate. For graphene/SiC(0001), Au intercalation yields two phases with different doping. Here, we report the preparation of an almost pure p-type graphene phase after Au intercalation. We observe a 100 meV Rashba-type spin-orbit splitting at 0.9 eV binding energy. We show that this giant splitting is due to hybridization and much more limited in energy and momentum space than for Au-intercalated graphene on Ni.