Defect-gradient-induced Rashba effect in van der Waals PtSe2 layers

Abstract

Materials with strong Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling hold promise for spintronic applications and the investigation of topological phases of matter. Here, the authors report a method to generate layer-by-layer defect gradients in a van der Waals material, inducing broken spatial inversion symmetry and Rashba effect in the engineered layers.