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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Imaging orbital Rashba induced charge transport anisotropy

Eylon Persky1,2, Xi Wang1, Giacomo Sala3, Thierry C. van Thiel4, Edouard Lesne4,5, Alexander Lau6, Mario Cuoco7, Marc Gabay8, Carmine Ortix9,* et al.

Andrea D. Caviglia3,† and Beena Kalisky1,‡

  • *Contact author: cortix@unisa.it
  • †Contact author: andrea.caviglia@unige.ch
  • ‡Contact author: beena@biu.ac.il
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L042008 – Published 19 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/py14-kv7p

Abstract

We reveal a direct orbital contribution to charge transport at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface using scanning superconducting quantum interference device current imaging and global transport. Current patterns reveal conductivity anisotropy at zero field. This anisotropy correlates with the nonlinear Hall effect, pointing to a shared origin. Using a k·p model, we show that the local and global transport result from broken rotation and inversion symmetries, which give rise to anisotropic orbital Rashba coupling. Our results establish a route for probing orbital textures via purely electrical means.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L042008– Published 19 October, 2026
  • Received 24 June 2025
  • Revised 21 January 2026
  • Accepted 27 August 2026
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