High-Precision Spin-Resolved Electronic Structures of Si(110)-"16x2" chiral surfaces

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This proposal is for travel and subsistence funds to enable Prof. Seddon (the PI) and a post-graduate student to carry out experimental work (for which beamtime has recently been awarded) on the APE-LE photoemission station at the Elettra synchrotron (Italy). Travel, accommodation and subsistence for work at Elettra used to be provided under the Calipso Transnational Access program, which unfortunately is no longer available.In this beamtime we aim to perform accurate, high-precision electron spin polarisation measurements for Si(110)-"16x2" surfaces that our calculations have predicted will exhibit small polarisations due to the surface chirality. The proposed experimental programme has been advanced, compared with previous experimental work at Elettra, in order to ensure the generation of unequivocal data. Results indicating that the two enantiomeric surfaces exhibit spin polarisations that 'mirror' each other would be a robust result that would have a significant impact in the field of spintronics as it raises the possibility that polarised electrons could be injected into silicon based electronics components without the need for magnetic overlayers etc.This work is a key part of our on-going project exploring manifestations of chirality and the Rashba effect in semiconductor materials with a particular focus on spin injection/detection.