Abstract
Half-metals have fully spin-polarized charge carriers at the Fermi surface. Such polarization usually occurs due to strong electron-electron correlations. Recently [Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 107601 (2017)] we have demonstrated theoretically that adding (or removing) electrons to systems with Fermi surface nesting also stabilizes the half-metallic states even in the weak-coupling regime. In the absence of doping, the ground state of the system is a spin or charge density wave, formed by four nested bands. Each of these bands is characterized by charge (electron/hole) and spin (up/down) labels. Only two of these bands accumulate charge carriers introduced by doping, forming a half-metallic two-valley Fermi surface. Analysis demonstrates that two types of such half-metallicity can be stabilized. The first type corresponds to the full spin polarization of the electrons and holes at the Fermi surface. The second type, with antiparallel spins in electronlike and holelike valleys, is referred to as a “spin-valley half-metal” and corresponds to the complete polarization with respect to the spin-valley operator. We analyze spin and spin-valley currents and possible superconductivity in these systems. We show that spin or spin-valley currents can flow in half-metallic phases.
- Received 23 April 2018
- Revised 26 July 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.155141
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