Giant spin rotation under quasiparticle-photoelectron conversion: Joint effect of sublattice interference and spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

Spin- and angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is a basic experimental tool for unveiling spin polarization of electron eigenstates in crystals. We prove, by using spin-orbit coupled graphene as a model, that photoconversion of a quasiparticle inside a crystal into a photoelectron can be accompanied with a dramatic change in its spin polarization, up to a total spin flip. This phenomenon is typical of quasiparticles residing away from the Brillouin-zone center and described by higher rank spinors and results in exotic patterns in the angular distribution of photoelectrons.