Tuning Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling in Gated Multilayer InSe

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Quantum Mechanics

Background:

• Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is fundamental for spintronics, enabling electron spin manipulation.
• Electrostatic gating of materials with strong SOC creates effective magnetic fields for spin control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the existence and electrostatic tunability of Rashba SOC in multilayer InSe.
• To explore the potential of InSe for spintronic applications through controlled SOC.

Main Methods:

• Quantum transport studies observing the crossover from weak localization (WL) to weak antilocalization (WAL).
• Quantitative analysis of magneto-transport data.
• Energy band diagram calculations.

Main Results:

• Observed gate-voltage-tuned crossover from WL to WAL, indicating increasing SOC strength in InSe.
• Confirmed the predominance of Rashba SOC in electrostatically gated InSe.
• Attributed SOC strength saturation to electronic density of states effects.

Conclusions:

• Rashba SOC in multilayer InSe is electrostatically tunable, with saturation effects explained by material properties.
• Findings have broad implications for spintronics and other gated semiconductor nanomaterials.
• InSe shows promise for future III-VI semiconductor-based spintronic devices.