Tunable Rashba spin-orbit coupling and its interplay with multiorbital effect and magnetic ordering at oxide interfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates how multiorbital effects and magnetic ordering influence Rashba spin-orbit coupling at oxide interfaces, revealing tunability and competition effects crucial for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates, through first-principles calculations, the tunability of Rashba SOC by interfacial transitions and the competition between SOC and magnetism at oxide interfaces.

Findings

Rashba spin splitting can be tuned by interfacial insulator-metal transition.

Magnetic ordering suppresses Rashba SOC-induced spin polarization.

Interplay between multiorbital effects and magnetic order affects electronic properties.

Abstract

The complex oxide heterostructures such as LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface are paradigmatic platforms to explore emerging multi-degrees of freedom coupling and the associated exotic phenomena. In this study, we reveal the effects of multiorbital and magnetic ordering on Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) at the LAO/STO (001) interface. Based on first-principles calculations, we show that the Rashba spin splitting near the conduction band edge can be tuned substantially by the interfacial insulator-metal transition due to the multiorbital effect of the lowest t_2g bands. We further unravel a competition between Rashba SOC and intrinsic magnetism, in which the Rashba SOC induced spin polarization is suppressed by the interfacial magnetic ordering. These results deepen our understanding of intricate electronic and magnetic reconstruction at the perovskite oxide interfaces and shed light on the engineering of oxide heterostructures for all-oxides-based spintronic devices.