Operando imaging of all-electric spin texture manipulation in ferroelectric and multiferroic Rashba semiconductors

TL;DR

This study demonstrates real-time electrostatic control of electron spin in ferroelectric and multiferroic Rashba semiconductors using operando SARPES, revealing detailed switching pathways and enhanced Rashba splitting under external fields.

Contribution

First demonstration of operando electrostatic spin manipulation in Rashba semiconductors via ferroelectric polarization reversal and detailed pathway analysis.

Findings

Electrostatic spin manipulation achieved in GeTe via ferroelectric switching.

Switching of perpendicular spin component in multiferroic Ge1-xMnxTe due to electric field.

Rashba-splitting strength increases under external electric fields.

Abstract

The control of the electron spin by external means is a key issue for spintronic devices. Using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES) with three-dimensional spin detection, we demonstrate operando electrostatic spin manipulation in ferroelectric GeTe and multiferroic Ge1-xMnxTe. We not only demonstrate for the first time electrostatic spin manipulation in Rashba semiconductors due to ferroelectric polarization reversal, but are also able to follow the switching pathway in detail, and show a gain of the Rashba-splitting strength under external fields. In multiferroic Ge1-xMnxTe operando SARPES reveals switching of the perpendicular spin component due to electric field induced magnetization reversal. This provides firm evidence of effective multiferroic coupling which opens up magnetoelectric functionality with a multitude of spin-switching paths in which the magnetic and electric order parameters are coupled through ferroelastic relaxation paths. This work thus provides a new type of magnetoelectric switching entangled with Rashba-Zeeman splitting in a multiferroic system.