Analogies between Jahn–Teller and Rashba spin physics |
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Authors: | Alessandro Stroppa Paolo Barone Domenico Di Sante Mario Cuoco Silvia Picozzi Myung‐Hwan Whangbo |
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Institution: | 1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) and Institute for Superconductivity and Innovative Materials (SPIN), L'Aquila, Italy;2. International Centre for Quantum and Molecular Structures, and Physics Department, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Shanghai, China;3. Graphene Labs, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, via Morego 30, Genova, Italy;4. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universitaet Wuerzburg, Am Hubland 97074, Wuerzburg, Germany;5. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR‐SPIN) and Dipartimento di Fisica “E. R. Caianiello,”, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, (SA), Italy;6. Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina |
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Abstract: | In developing physical theories, analogical reasoning has been found to be very powerful, as attested by a number of important historical examples. An analogy between two apparently different phenomena, once established, allows one to transfer information and bring new concepts from one phenomenon to the other. Here, we discuss an important analogy between two widely different physical problems, namely, the Jahn–Teller distortion in molecular physics and the Rashba spin splitting in condensed matter physics. By exploring their conceptual and mathematical features and by searching for the counterparts between them, we examine the orbital texture in Jahn–Teller systems, as the counterpart of the spin texture of the Rashba physics, and put forward a possible way of experimentally detecting the orbital texture. Finally, we discuss the analogy by comparing the coexistence of linear Rashba + Dresselhaus effects and Jahn–Teller problems for specific symmetries, which allow for nontrivial spin and orbital textures, respectively. |
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Keywords: | Jahn– Teller orbital ordering Rashba/Dresselhaus spin‐orbit spin texture |
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