Strongly anisotropic spin and orbital Rashba effect at a tellurium – noble metal interface

The orbital Rashba effect describes the formation of chiral orbital angular momentum textures upon inversion symmetry breaking at surfaces or interfaces. Here, the authors unveil a pronounced anisotropic spin-orbit splitting with a Rashba-type spin polarization in the electronic interface states in the model system Te/Au(100). Exploring the momentum-dependent response of inversion symmetry breaking, they particularly demonstrate that the orbital texture leads to a strongly anisotropic spin and orbital Rashba effect. These findings will provide a valuable contribution to the discovery and understanding of future ``orbitronic'' phenomena.