title: Giant spin splitting through surface alloying.
abstract: The long-range ordered surface alloy Bi/Ag(111) is found to exhibit a giant spin splitting of its surface electronic structure due to spin-orbit coupling, as is determined by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. First-principles electronic structure calculations fully confirm the experimental findings. The effect is brought about by a strong in-plane gradient of the crystal potential in the surface layer, in interplay with the structural asymmetry due to the surface-potential barrier. As a result, the spin polarization of the surface states is considerably rotated out of the surface plane.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany. c.ast@fkf.mpg.de
authors.forename: Christian R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Ast
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Henk
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moreschini
authors.forename: Mihaela C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Falub
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pacilé
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grioni