Silicene spintronics — A concise review*
Wang Yang-Yanga),c)†, Quhe Ru-Gea),d),e),f)†, Yu Da-Penga),b), Lü Jing‡a),b)
       
Evolution of band structures of bulk [(a)–(f)] and zigzag-terminated [(g)–(l)] silicene as a function of extrinsic Rashba SOC λ R1 at fixed intrinsic Rashba SOC λ R2 and exchange field M . (a) λ R1 = 0. Bulk energy gaps open around the K and K ′ Dirac points. The size of the bulk gap near valley K is exactly the same as that near valley K ′. (b)–(f) λ R1/ t = 0.01, 0.031, 0.045, 0.067, 0.09, respectively. With increasing λ R1, the bulk gap around valley K gradually increases, while the bulk gap near valley K ′ closes twice [see panels (c) and (e)] and reopens twice [see panels (d) and (f)]. (g)–(l) The valley-associated gapless edge modes at valley K are unchanged, but those at valley K ′ change; i.e., there are two or one pair of edge modes after the bulk gap reopens. Colors are used to label the edge modes localized at opposite boundaries. Other parameters in Eq. ( 2 ) are set to be 2 λ R2/(3t) = 0.08, and M/t = 0.5. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [ 44 ]. Copyright 2014 American Physical Society.