Revealing hidden spin-momentum locking in a high-temperature cuprate superconductor

Revealing spin-orbit coupling in a cuprate Strong coupling between the spin and orbital degrees of freedom is crucial in generating the exotic band structure of topological insulators. The combination of spin-orbit coupling with electronic correlations could lead to exotic effects; however, these two types of interactions are rarely found to be strong in the same material. Gotlieb et al. used spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to map out the spin texture in the cuprate Bi2212. Surprisingly, they found signatures of spin-momentum locking, not unlike that seen in topological insulators. Thus, in addition to strong electronic correlations, this cuprate also has considerable spin-orbit coupling. Science , this issue p. 1271