  One of the exciting features of two-dimensional (2D) materials is their
electronic and optical tunability through strain engineering. Previously, we
found a class of 2D ferroelectric Rashba semiconductors PbX (X = S, Se, Te)
with tunable spin-orbital properties. In this work, based on our previous
tight-binding (TB) results, we derive an effective low-energy Hamiltonian
around the symmetry points that captures the effects of strain on the
electronic properties of PbX. We find that strains induce gauge fields which
shift the Rashba point and modify the Rashba parameter. This effect is
equivalent to the application of in-plane magnetic fields. The out-of-plane
strain, which is proportional to the electric polarization, is also shown to
modify the Rashba parameter. Overall, our theory connects strain and spin
splitting in ferroelectric Rashba materials, which will be important to
understand the strain-induced variations in local Rashba parameters that will
occur in practical applications.
