  By performing density functional theory (DFT) and Green's functions
calculations, complemented by X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy, we investigate
the electronic structure of Fe/GeTe(111), a prototypical
ferromagnetic/Rashba-ferroelectric interface. We reveal that such system
exhibits several intriguing properties resulting from the complex interplay of
exchange interaction, electric polarization and spin-orbit coupling. Despite a
rather strong interfacial hybridization between Fe and GeTe bands, resulting in
a complete suppression of the surface states of the latter, the bulk Rashba
bands are hardly altered by the ferromagnetic overlayer. This could have a deep
impact on spin dependent phenomena observed at this interface, such as
spin-to-charge interconversion, which are likely to involve bulk rather than
surface Rashba states.
