Rotating spin and giant splitting: unoccupied surface electronic structure of Tl/Si(111)

We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on the unoccupied surface electronic structure of the Tl/Si(111) surface. Spin- and angle-resolved inverse-photoemission measurements with sensitivity to both the in-plane and the out-of-plane polarization direction detect a spin-orbit-split surface state, which is well described by theoretical calculations. We demonstrate that the spin polarization vector rotates from the classical in-plane Rashba polarization direction around Γ[over ¯] to the direction perpendicular to the surface at the K[over ¯](K[over ¯]') points-a direct consequence of the symmetry of the 2D hexagonal system. A giant splitting in energy of about 0.6 eV is observed and attributed to the strong localization of the unoccupied surface state close to the heavy Tl atoms. This leads to completely out-of-plane spin-polarized valleys in the vicinity of the Fermi level. As the valley polarization is oppositely oriented at the K[over ¯] and K[over ¯]' points, backscattering should be strongly suppressed in this system.