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Radial Rashba spin-orbit fields in commensurate twisted transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers
Naimer, Thomas
, Faria Junior, Paulo E.
, Zollner, Klaus
and Fabian, Jaroslav
(2026)
Radial Rashba spin-orbit fields in commensurate twisted transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers.
Physical Review B 113, 045417.
Date of publication of this fulltext: 19 Jan 2026 05:34
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.78468
This is the latest version of this item.
Abstract
In commensurate twisted homobilayers, purely radial Rashba spin-orbit fields can emerge. We employ first-principles calculations to investigate the band structures and the spin-orbit fields close to the high-symmetry points K and Γ of several commensurate twisted transition-metal dichalcogenide homobilayers: WSe₂, NbSe₂, and WTe₂. The observed in-plane spin textures are mostly radial, and the ...
In commensurate twisted homobilayers, purely radial Rashba spin-orbit fields can emerge. We employ first-principles calculations to investigate the band structures and the spin-orbit fields close to the high-symmetry points K and Γ of several commensurate twisted transition-metal dichalcogenide homobilayers: WSe₂, NbSe₂, and WTe₂. The observed in-plane spin textures are mostly radial, and the main features are successfully reproduced using a model Hamiltonian based on two effective-mass models, including spin-orbit coupling, and a general (spin-conserving) interlayer coupling. Extracting the model Hamiltonian parameters through fitting of several twisted supercells, we find a twist angle dependency of the magnitude of the radial Rashba field, which is symmetric not only around the untwisted cases (Θ = 0° and Θ = 60°), but also around Θ = 30°. Furthermore, we observe that the interlayer coupling between the K (or K′ ) points of the two layers decreases with the increase of the size of the commensurate supercells. Hence, peaks of high interlayer coupling can occur only for twist angles, where small commensurate supercells are possible. Exploring different lateral displacements between the layers, we confirm that the relevant symmetry protecting the radial Rashba is an in-plane 180° rotation axis. We additionally investigate the effects of atomic relaxation and modulation of the interlayer distance. Our calculations on WTe₂ bilayers show that their lack of C₃ symmetry results in spin textures that are neither radial nor tangential. Our results offer fundamental microscopic insights that are particularly relevant to engineering spin-charge conversion schemes based on twisted layered materials.
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| Item type | Article | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title | Physical Review B | ||||
| Publisher: | American Physical Society (APS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume: | 113 | ||||
| Page Range: | 045417 | ||||
| Date | 15 January 2026 | ||||
| Institutions | Physics > Institute of Theroretical Physics > Chair Professor Richter > Group Jaroslav Fabian | ||||
| Projects |
Funded by:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
(314695032)
| ||||
| Identification Number |
| ||||
| Keywords | transition-metal dichalcogenides, twistronics, spin-orbit coupling | ||||
| Dewey Decimal Classification | 500 Science > 530 Physics | ||||
| Status | Published | ||||
| Refereed | Yes, this version has been refereed | ||||
| Created at the University of Regensburg | Partially | ||||
| URN of the UB Regensburg | urn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-784688 | ||||
| Item ID | 78468 |
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