Strong enhancement of the Edelstein effect in f-electron systems

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that correlation effects significantly amplify the Edelstein effect in f-electron systems near the coherence temperature, offering potential for improved spintronics applications.

Contribution

It reveals that correlation effects can greatly enhance the Edelstein effect in f-electron systems, especially near the coherence temperature, due to coupling between conduction and localized f-electrons.

Findings

Strong enhancement of Edelstein effect observed near coherence temperature.

Coupling between conduction electrons and localized f-electrons explains the enhancement.

Enhancement suggests new avenues for spintronics device efficiency.

Abstract

The Edelstein effect occurring in systems with broken inversion symmetry generates a spin polarization when an electric field is applied, which is most advantageous in spintronics applications. Unfortunately, it became apparent that this kind of magnetoelectric effect is very small in semiconductors. We here demonstrate that correlation effects can strongly enhance the magnetoelectric effect. Particularly, we observe a strong enhancement of the Edelstein effect in $f$-electron systems close to the coherence temperature, where the $f$-electrons change their character from localized to itinerant. We furthermore show that this enhancement can be explained by a coupling between the conduction electrons and the still localized $f$-electrons.