Induced Rashba splitting of electronic states in monolayers of Au, Cu on a W(110) substrate

Abstract

The paper sums up a theoretical and experimental investigation of the influence of the spin–orbit coupling in W(110) on the spin structure of electronic states in deposited Au and Cu monolayers. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals that in the case of monolayers of Au and Cu spin–orbit split bands are formed in a surface-projected gap of W(110). Spin resolution shows that these states are spin polarized and that, therefore, the spin–orbit splitting is of Rashba type. The states evolve from hybridization of W 5d, 6p-derived states with the s, p states of the deposited metal. Interaction with Au and Cu shifts the original W 5d-derived states from the edges toward the center of the surface-projected gap. The size of the spin–orbit splitting of the formed states does not correlate with the atomic number of the deposited metal and is even higher for Cu than for Au. These states can be described as W-derived surface resonances modified by hybridization with the p, d states of the adsorbed metal. Our electronic structure calculations performed in the framework of the density functional theory correlate well with the experiment and demonstrate the crucial role of the W top layer for the spin–orbit splitting. It is shown that the contributions of the spin–orbit interaction from W and Au act in opposite directions which leads to a decrease of the resulting spin–orbit splitting in the Au monolayer on W(110). For the Cu monolayer with lower spin–orbit interaction the resulting spin splitting is higher and mainly determined by the W.