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arXiv · 1609.07425

The mechanism of spin-orbit coupling in a 2D oxide interface

Patrick Seiler·Jone Zabaleta·Robin Wanke·Jochen Mannhart·Thilo Kopp·Daniel Braak
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Abstract

The presence of spin-orbit coupling drives the anomalous magnetotransport at oxide interfaces and forms the basis for numerous intriguing properties of these 2D electron systems, such as topologically protected phases or anti-localization. For many of those systems, the identification of the underlying coupling mechanism is obfuscated by multi-band effects. We therefore analyze the transport of LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interfaces under high pressures, a technique to single out the multi-band contributions. We argue that the observed magnetoresistance is due to quantum interference and not related to Coulomb interaction. Therefore, this system is an excellent candidate to generate a metal-insulator transition of the long-sought symplectic 2D universality class. It is shown that the spin-orbit coupling can be linked unambiguously to the band structure with a cubic (Dresselhaus-like) rather than a linear (Rashba-like) spin-orbit band splitting.

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Patrick Seiler, Jone Zabaleta, Robin Wanke, Jochen Mannhart, Thilo Kopp, Daniel Braak. 2016-09-23. The mechanism of spin-orbit coupling in a 2D oxide interface. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.97.075136

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