Title: Doping-induced spin-orbit splitting in Bi-doped ZnO nanowires,
Abstract: Our predictions, based on density-functional calculations, reveal that
surface doping of ZnO nanowires with Bi leads to a linear-in-$k$ splitting of
the conduction-band states, through spin-orbit interaction, due to the lowering
of the symmetry in the presence of the dopant. This finding implies that spin
polarization of the conduction electrons in Bi-doped ZnO nanowires could be
controlled with applied electric (as opposed to magnetic) fields, making them
candidate materials for spin-orbitronic applications. Our findings also show
that the degree of spin splitting could be tuned by adjusting the dopant
concentration. Defect calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations
indicate that stable doping configurations exhibiting the foregoing
linear-in-$k$ splitting could be realized under reasonable thermodynamic
conditions.