Using Mechanical Stress to Investigate the Rashba Effect in Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Perovskites

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites simultaneously possess strong spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and structure inversion asymmetry, establishing a Rashba effect to influence light emission and photovoltaics. Here, we use mechanical bending as a convenient approach to investigate the Rashba effect through SOC in perovskite (MAPbI_3–xCl_x) films by elastically deforming grains. It is observed that applying a concave bending can broaden the line shape of the magnetophotocurrent, increasing the internal magnetic parameter B₀ from 121 to 205 mT, which indicates an enhancement on SOC. Interestingly, the PL lifetime is found to be enlarged from 9.9 to 14.8 ns under this bending, which suggests that introducing compressive strain can essentially increase the Rashba effect through SOC, leading to an increase upon indirect band transition. Furthermore, the PL peak associated with the Rashba effect is shifted from 776 to 780 nm under this mechanical bending. Therefore, mechanical bending provides a convenient experimental method to approach the Rashba effect in hybrid perovskites.