Data from: Emergent Rashba spin-orbit coupling in bulk gold with buried network of nanoscale interfaces

The Rashba effect, which plays a crucial role in fundamental materials
physics and potential spintronics applications, has been engineered in
diverse systems, including semiconductor quantum wells, oxide
heterostructures, metallic surfaces, topological insulators,
ferroelectrics, etc. However, generating it in systems that preserve bulk
inversion symmetry (BIS), for example, in bulk metals, has not been
possible so far. We demonstrate a unique strategy to introduce and tune
Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) to unprecedented magnitudes in
inversion-symmetric solids, by incorporating ultra-small silver
nanoparticles in bulk gold. The near-identical lattice constants of Ag and
Au allowed dense packing of the Ag/Au hetero-interfaces without
compromising the global BIS. By varying the density of embedded
nanoparticles, we generate Rashba SOI in a bulk metal with coupling
strength ∼15 meV∙Å, higher than any known system preserving BIS globally
and up to ∼20 times increase in the spin-orbit scattering rate. We argue
that the combined effect of charge-transfer at the interfaces and
polaronic localization enhances the SOI.

拉什巴效应（Rashba effect）在基础材料物理学与潜在自旋电子学应用中发挥着关键作用，目前已在半导体量子阱、氧化物异质结构、金属表面、拓扑绝缘体、铁电体等多种体系中实现。然而，在保留整体反演对称性（bulk inversion symmetry, BIS）的体系（如块体金属）中实现该效应，迄今仍未取得突破。我们提出了一种独特策略：通过在块体金中嵌入超小银纳米颗粒，在反演对称固体中引入并调控拉什巴自旋轨道相互作用（spin-orbit interaction, SOI）至前所未有的强度。银与金近乎一致的晶格常数使得Ag/Au异质界面能够实现致密填充，同时不会破坏整体反演对称性。通过调控嵌入纳米颗粒的密度，我们在块体金属中成功生成拉什巴自旋轨道相互作用，其耦合强度可达~15 meV∙Å，高于所有已知的全局保留反演对称性的体系，且自旋轨道散射速率最高提升约20倍。我们认为，界面处的电荷转移与极化子局域化的协同效应增强了自旋轨道相互作用。