Exploring hidden effects that have been overlooked given the nominal global crystal symmetry but are indeed visible in solid-state materials has been a fascinating subject of research recently. Here, we introduce a hidden Zeeman-type spin polarization (HZSP) in nonmagnetic bulk crystals with sublattice structures. In the momentum space of these crystals, the doubly degenerate bands formed in a certain plane can exhibit a uniform spin configuration with opposite spin orientations perpendicular to this plane, whereas such degenerate states are spatially separated in a pair of real-space sectors. Interestingly, we find that HZSP can manifest itself in both centrosymmetric and noncentrosymmetric materials. We further demonstrate the important role of nonsymmorphic twofold screw-rotational symmetry played in the formation of HZSP. Moreover, two representative material examples, i.e., centrosymmetric $\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{Se}}_2$ and noncentrosymmetric $\mathrm{Ba}{\mathrm{Bi}}_4{\mathrm{O}}_7$, are identified to show HZSP via first-principles calculations. Our finding thus not only opens different perspectives for hidden spin polarization research but also significantly broadens the range of materials towards spintronics applications.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• First-principles calculations
• Spin-orbit coupling
• Spintronics