We use the Hirsch-Fye quantum Monte Carlo method to study the single magnetic impurity problem in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We calculate the spin susceptibility for various values of spin-orbit coupling, Hubbard interaction, and chemical potential. The Kondo temperatures for different parameters are estimated by fitting the universal curves of spin susceptibility. We find that the Kondo temperature is almost a linear function of Rashba spin-orbit energy when the chemical potential is close to the edge of the conduction band. When the chemical potential is far away from the band edge, the Kondo temperature is independent of the spin-orbit coupling. These results demonstrate that, for single impurity problem in this system, the most important reason to change the Kondo temperature is the divergence of density of states near the band edge, and the divergence is induced by the Rashba spin-orbit coupling.
We study the Kondo screening of a magnetic impurity in a two-dimensional superconductor with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC). It is found that the Rashba interaction generates a novel Kondo screening channel, in which the local moment is screened by the exchange coupling with conduction electrons in different spin and orbital states. The Kondo temperature associated with this process is determined by the interplay between the Rashba SOC and superconducting energy gap. As a result, the quantum phase transition between the magnetic doublet and Kondo singlet ground states is significantly affect…
The combination of strong spin orbit coupling and strong correlations holds tremendous potential for interesting physical phenomena as well as applications in spintronics and quantum computation. In this context, we here study the interplay between the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) and the Kondo screening in noncentrosymmetric $f$-electron materials. We show that the Kondo coupling of the $f$-electrons becomes anisotropic at high temperatures due to the RSOC. However, an isotropic Kondo effect is restored at low temperature which leads to a complete Kondo screening. We furthermore demonstr…
Using the framework of the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG), we study a quantum dot coupled to a superconducting nanowire with strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Regarding the singlet-to-doublet "0-$π$" transition that takes place when the Kondo effect is overcome by the superconducting gap, we show that the Rashba coupling modifies the critical values at which the transition occurs, favouring the doublet phase. In addition, using a generalized Haldane's formula for the Kondo temperature $T_K$, we show that it is lowered by the Rashba coupling. We benchmark our DMRG results comparin…
The non-interacting and non-Hermitian, parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$)-symmetric Anderson model exhibits an exceptional point (EP) at a non-Hermitian coupling $g=1$, which remains unrenormalized in the presence of interactions (Lourenco et al, arXiv:1806.03116), where the EP was shown to coincide with the quantum critical point (QCP) for Kondo destruction. In this work, we consider a quantum dot hybridizing with metallic leads having Rashba spin-orbit coupling ($λ$). We show that for a non-Hermitian hybridization, $λ$ can renormalize the exceptional point even in the non-interacting case, stabili…
Using the numerical renormalization group (NRG) method we study a magnetic impurity coupled to a quantum wire with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in an external magnetic field. We consider the low-filling regime with the Fermi energy close to the bottom of the band and report the results for local static and dynamic properties in the Kondo regime. In the absence of the field, local impurity properties remain isotropic in spin space despite the SOC-induced magnetic anisotropy of the conduction band. In the presence of the field, clear fingerprints of anisotropy are revealed th…
We theoretically study noncoplanar spin textures in polar magnetic conductors. Starting from the Kondo lattice model with the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, we derive an effective spin model with generalized Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interactions including the anisotropic and antisymmetric exchange interactions. By performing simulated annealing for the effective model, we find that a vortex crystal of Néel type is stabilized even in the absence of a magnetic field. Moreover, we demonstrate that a Bloch-type vortex crystal, which is usually associated with the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling,…
We study the "phase diagram" of a Hubbard plaquette with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that the peculiar way in which Rashba coupling breaks the spin-rotational symmetry of the Hubbard model allows a mixing of singlet and triplet components in the ground-state that slows down and it changes the nature of the Mott transition and of the Mott insulating phases.
Rashba-like spin-orbit interaction at oxide heterostructures emerges as a much sought-after feature in the context of oxide spintronics and spin-orbitronics. KTaO$_3$ (KTO) is one of the best substrates available for the purpose, owing to its strong spin-orbit interaction and alternating $+1|-1$ charged layers along the (001) direction. Employing first-principles calculations within density functional theory (DFT) and proposing a possible electrostatic model for charge transfer to the surfaces of KTO slabs, we comprehensively analyze Rashba-like spin-orbit interaction with the help of three-di…
The weak-coupling renormalization group method is an asymptotically exact method to find superconducting instabilities of a lattice model of correlated electrons. Here we extend it to spin-orbit coupled lattice systems and study the emerging superconducting phases of the Rashba-Hubbard model. Since Rashba type spin-orbit coupling breaks inversion symmetry, the arising superconducting phases may be a mixture of spin-singlet and spin-triplet states. We study the two-dimensional square lattice as a paradigm and discuss the symmetry properties of the arising spin-orbit coupled superconducting stat…
We theoretically demonstrate that a rotating electric-field component of circularly polarized microwave or terahertz light can induce electron-spin polarization within a few picoseconds in a two-dimensional electron system with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction by taking advantage of the magnetoelectric coupling. The efficiency turns out to be several orders of magnitude greater than that of conventional methods, indicating high potential of this technique for future spintronics.
We examine the bound-state and free-state contributions to the density of states in a three-dimensional electron gas with a two-dimensional interface with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Confinement of electrons to the interface is achieved through the inclusion of an attractive potential in the interface. Motivation for our research comes from interest in heterostructure materials that exhibit the Edelstein and inverse Edelstein effects on surfaces or interfaces due to large Rashba spin-orbit coupling. By modifying the Hamiltonian of a three-dimensional free electron gas to include an interface w…
We show that the bound electron pairs (BEPs) emerge in two-dimensional gated Rashba materials owing to the interplay of the pair spin-orbit interaction, produced by the Coulomb fields of interacting electrons, and the peculiarities of the band structure giving rise to a negative reduced mass of the interacting electrons. Our consideration is based on the four-band Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction created by the charges on the gate. The binding energy of the BEP varies with the gate voltage in a wide range across the entire width of the two-particle energy gap.…
