Bulk and surface sensitive x-ray spectroscopic techniques are applied in tandem to show that the valence band edge for In2O3 is found significantly closer to the bottom of the conduction band than expected on the basis of the widely quoted bulk band gap of 3.75 eV. First-principles theory shows that the upper valence bands of In2O3 exhibit a small dispersion and the conduction band minimum is positioned at Gamma. However, direct optical transitions give a minimal dipole intensity until 0.8 eV below the valence band maximum. The results set an upper limit on the fundamental band gap of 2.9 eV.

A material is said to exhibit dichroism if its photon absorption spectrum depends on the polarization of the incident radiation. In the case of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), the absorption cross-section of a ferromagnet or a paramagnet in a magnetic field changes when the helicity of a circularly polarized photon is reversed relative to the magnetization direction. Although similarities between X-ray absorption and electron energy-loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) have long been recognized, it has been assumed that extending such equivalence to circular dichroism would require the electron beam in the TEM to be spin-polarized. Recently, it was argued on theoretical grounds that this assumption is probably wrong. Here we report the direct experimental detection of magnetic circular dichroism in a TEM. We compare our measurements of electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism (EMCD) with XMCD spectra obtained from the same specimen that, together with theoretical calculations, show that chiral atomic transitions in a specimen are accessible with inelastic electron scattering under particular scattering conditions. This finding could have important consequences for the study of magnetism on the nanometre and subnanometre scales, as EMCD offers the potential for such spatial resolution down to the nanometre scale while providing depth information--in contrast to X-ray methods, which are mainly surface-sensitive.

A comprehensive mapping of the spin polarization of the electronic bands in ferroelectric α-GeTe(111) films has been performed using a time-of-flight momentum microscope equipped with an imaging spin filter that enables a simultaneous measurement of more than 10.000 data points (voxels). A Rashba type splitting of both surface and bulk bands with opposite spin helicity of the inner and outer Rashba bands is found revealing a complex spin texture at the Fermi energy. The switchable inner electric field of GeTe implies new functionalities for spintronic devices. The strong coupling of electron momentum and spin in low-dimensional structures allows an electrically controlled spin manipulation in spintronic devices [1-4], e.g. via the Rashba effect [5]. The Rashba effect has first been experimentally demonstrated in semiconductor heterostructures, where an electrical field perpendicular to the layered structure, i.e. perpendicular to the electron momentum, determines the electron spin orientation relative to its momentum [6-8]. An asymmetric interface structure causes the necessary inversion symmetry breaking and accounts for the special spin-splitting of electron states, the Rashba effect [5], the size of which can be tuned by the strength of the electrical field. For most semiconducting materials the Rashba effect causes only a quite small splitting of the order of 10 −2 ˚ A −1 and thus requires experiments at very low temperatures [9-11] and also implies large lateral dimensions for potential spintronic applications. A considerably larger splitting has been predicted theoretically [12] and was recently found experimentally for the surface states of GeTe(111) [13, 14]. GeTe is a ferroelectric semiconductor with a Curie temperature of 700 K. Thus, besides the interface induced Rashba splitting, the ferroelectric properties also imply a broken inversion symmetry within the bulk and thus would allow for the electrical tuning of the bulk Rashba splitting via switching the ferroelectric polarization [12, 15, 16]. This effect is of great interest for non-volatile spin orbitronics [10]. For GeTe a bulk Rashba splitting of 0.19Å19Å −1 has been predicted theoretically [12]. Experimentally, bulk-Rashba bands are rare and have only been found in the layered polar semiconductors BiTeCl and BiTeI [17-20] that, however, are not switchable. A characterization of the ferroelectric properties and a measurement of the spin polarization of the surface states of GeTe(111) at selected k-points has been performed previously by force microscopy [21, 22] and spin-resolved angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy, respectively [13]. A recent experimental and theoretical study revealed that at the Fermi level the hybridization of surface and bulk states causes surface-bulk resonant states resulting in unconventional spin topologies with chiral symmetry [14]. Here, we demonstrate the spin structure of surface and bulk bands of the GeTe(111) surface using the novel pho-toemission technique of spin-resolved time-of-flight momentum microsco...

Extraordinary Hall effect and x-ray spectroscopy measurements have been performed on a series of Pt/Co/MOx trilayers (M=Al, Mg, Ta, etc.) in order to investigate the role of oxidation in the onset of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at the Co/MOx interface. It is observed that varying the plasma oxidation time modifies the magnetic properties of the Co layer, inducing a magnetic anisotropy crossover from in plane to out of plane. We focused on the influence of plasma oxidation on Pt/Co/AlOx perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The interfacial electronic structure is analyzed via x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. It is shown that the maximum of out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy corresponds to the appearance of a significant density of Co–O bondings at the Co/AlOx interface.

Spin-based electronics in topological insulators (TIs) is favored by the long spin coherence(1,2) and consequently fault-tolerant information storage. Magnetically doped TIs are ferromagnetic up to 13 K,(3) well below any practical operating condition. Here we demonstrate that the long-range ferromagnetism at ambient temperature can be induced in Bi(2-x)Mn(x)Te(3) by the magnetic proximity effect through deposited Fe overlayer. This result opens a new path to interface-controlled ferromagnetism in TI-based spintronic devices.

Interfacial magnetoelectric coupling is a viable path to achieve electrical writing of magnetic information in spintronic devices. For the prototypical Fe/BaTiO3 system, only tiny changes of the interfacial Fe magnetic moment upon reversal of the BaTiO3 dielectric polarization have been predicted so far. Here, by using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism in combination with high resolution electron microscopy and first principles calculations, we report on an undisclosed physical mechanism for interfacial magnetoelectric coupling in the Fe/BaTiO3 system. At this interface, an ultrathin oxidized iron layer exists, whose magnetization can be electrically and reversibly switched on-off at room-temperature by reversing the BaTiO3 polarization. The suppression / recovery of interfacial ferromagnetism results from the asymmetric effect that ionic displacements in BaTiO3 produces on the exchange coupling constants in the interfacial oxidized Fe layer. The observed giant magnetoelectric response holds potential for optimizing interfacial magnetoelectric coupling in view of efficient, low-power spintronic devices.

The electric and nonvolatile control of the spin texture in semiconductors would represent a fundamental step toward novel electronic devices combining memory and computing functionalities. Recently, GeTe has been theoretically proposed as the father compound of a new class of materials, namely ferroelectric Rashba semiconductors. They display bulk bands with giant Rashba-like splitting due to the inversion symmetry breaking arising from the ferroelectric polarization, thus allowing for the ferroelectric control of the spin. Here, we provide the experimental demonstration of the correlation between ferroelectricity and spin texture. A surface-engineering strategy is used to set two opposite predefined uniform ferroelectric polarizations, inward and outward, as monitored by piezoresponse force microscopy. Spin and angular resolved photoemission experiments show that these GeTe(111) surfaces display opposite sense of circulation of spin in bulk Rashba bands. Furthermore, we demonstrate the crafting of nonvolatile ferroelectric patterns in GeTe films at the nanoscale by using the conductive tip of an atomic force microscope. Based on the intimate link between ferroelectric polarization and spin in GeTe, ferroelectric patterning paves the way to the investigation of devices with engineered spin configurations.

The behaviour of electrons and holes in a crystal lattice is a fundamental quantum phenomenon, accounting for a rich variety of material properties. Boosted by the remarkable electronic and physical properties of two-dimensional materials such as graphene and topological insulators, transition metal dichalcogenides have recently received renewed attention. In this context, the anomalous bulk properties of semimetallic WTe2 have attracted considerable interest. Here we report angle- and spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of WTe2 single crystals, through which we disentangle the role of W and Te atoms in the formation of the band structure and identify the interplay of charge, spin and orbital degrees of freedom. Supported by first-principles calculations and high-resolution surface topography, we reveal the existence of a layer-dependent behaviour. The balance of electron and hole states is found only when considering at least three Te–W–Te layers, showing that the behaviour of WTe2 is not strictly two dimensional.