English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Zendy Open

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Insights

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Zendy Tools

Zendy Plus

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

The antiferromagnetic (AFM) CrI$_3$ bilayer is a particularly interestingrepresentative of van der Waals 2D semiconductors, which are currently beingstudied for their magnetism and for their potential in spintronics. Using abinitio density-functional theory calculations, we investigate the spin texturein momentum space of the states of the (doubly degenerate) highest valence bandof the AFM CrI$_3$ bilayer with Cr-spin moments perpendicular to the layers. Wefind the existence, in the main central part of the Brillouin zone, of a Rashbain-plane spin texture of opposite signs on the two layers, resulting from theintrinsic local electric fields acting on each layer. To study the layersegregation of the wavefunctions, we apply a small electric field that splitsthe degenerate states according to their layer occupancy. We find that thewavefunctions of the highest valence band are layer-segregated, belonging toonly one of the two layers with opposite in-plane spin textures, and thesegregation occurs over nearly the whole Brillouin zone. The correspondinglayer locking of the in-plane-canted spin is related to the separation inenergy of the highest AFM band from the rest of the valence bands. We explainhow the band interactions destroy the layer locking at the $K$, $K'$, and$\Gamma$ points. Furthermore, we compare the layer locking of thein-plane-canted spin in our AFM bilayer system with the hidden spinpolarization in centrosymmetric nonmagnetic materials, pointing out thedifferences in segregation mechanisms and their consequences for the layerlocking. We note that a similar Rashba effect with layer locking ofin-plane-canted spin could occur in other van der Waals AFM bilayers withstrong spin-orbit coupling and an isolated energy band.

Rashba-induced spin texture and spin-layer-locking effects in the antiferromagnetic CrI3 bilayer