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Evidence of Crystal-Field-Mediated Anisotropic Orbital Rashba Effect in Epitaxial Ru/FM Heterostructure

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Electrical generation of orbital angular momentum provides a promising route to current-induced torques, yet effective control of orbital Rashba textures still remains challenging, particularly because the role of the interfacial crystal field remains largely unexplored. Here, we report experimental evidence for a crystal-field-mediated interfacial anisotropic orbital Rashba effect (AORE) in epitaxial Ru/ferromagnet heterostructures. Total orbital torque was disentangled into an isotropic bulk contribution and an in-plane anisotropic interfacial contribution. The latter was strongly suppressed by degrading the crystallinity of either constituent and by inserting a Cu spacer, highlighting the essential roles of coherent interfacial orbital hybridization and direct Ru/ferromagnet contact. These results identify interfacial crystal-field coherency as a key ingredient in manipulating orbital Rashba textures and establish a route toward engineering the symmetry and directionality of orbital torques.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04642

Authors: Zhang, Yu, Niu, Wenhao, Yang, Yumin, Xu, Wenqi, Meng, Gengchen, Wang, Hailong, Lei, Na, Wei, Dahai

Institutions: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Semiconductors, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beihang University, State Key Laboratory for Spintronic Devices and Technologies

Language: English

Topic: Magnetic properties of thin films

Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7211876898

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