Extrinsic spin Hall effect in inhomogeneous systems

Takumi Funato and Hiroshi Kohno
Phys. Rev. B 102, 094426 – Published 22 September 2020

Abstract

Charge-to-spin conversion in inhomogeneous systems is studied theoretically. We consider free electrons subject to impurities with spin-orbit interaction and with spatially modulated distribution, and calculate spin accumulation and spin current induced by an external electric field. It is found that the spin accumulation is induced by the vorticity of electron flow through side-jump and skew-scattering processes, and the differences of the two processes are discussed. The results can be put in a form of a generalized spin diffusion equation with a spin source term given by the divergence of the spin Hall current. This spin source term reduces to the form of spin-vorticity coupling when the spin Hall angle is independent of impurity concentration. We also study the effects of long-range Coulomb interaction, which is indispensable when the process involves charge inhomogeneity and accumulation as in the present problem.

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  • Received 27 December 2019
  • Revised 11 August 2020
  • Accepted 31 August 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.094426

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Takumi Funato and Hiroshi Kohno

  • Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan

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Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 9 — 1 September 2020

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