Spin–orbit coupling in buckled monolayer nitrogene

Abstract

Buckled monolayer nitrogene has been recently predicted to be stable above the room temperature. The low atomic number of nitrogen atom suggests, that spin–orbit coupling in nitrogene is weak, similar to graphene or silicene. We employ first principles calculations and perform a systematic study of the intrinsic and extrinsic spin–orbit coupling in this material. We calculate the spin mixing parameter b 2 , reflecting the strength of the intrinsic spin–orbit coupling and find, that b 2 is relatively small, on the order of 10 −6 . It also displays a weak anisotropy, opposite for electrons and holes. To study extrinsic effects of spin–orbit coupling we apply a transverse electric field enabling spin–orbit fields . We find, that are on the order of a single μ eV in the valence band, and tens to a hundred of μ eV in the conduction band, depending on the applied electric field. Similar to b 2 , is also anisotropic, in particular for the conduction electrons.