Intrinsic Spin Swapping

TL;DR

This paper investigates intrinsic spin swapping in two-dimensional diffusive systems with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, revealing larger effects than extrinsic mechanisms and providing analytical and numerical insights into the resulting spin accumulations and currents.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of intrinsic spin swapping induced by Rashba spin-orbit coupling, demonstrating its strength and analytical characterization, distinct from extrinsic effects.

Findings

Intrinsic spin swapping produces larger spin accumulations than extrinsic effects.

The effect is strongest when system size exceeds the spin-orbit precession length.

Analytical expressions describe spin accumulation at system edges.

Abstract

Here, we study diffusive spin transport in two dimensions and demonstrate that an intrinsic analog to a previously predicted extrinsic spin swapping effect, where the spin polarization and the direction of flow are interchanged due to spin-orbit coupling at extrinsic impurities, can be induced by intrinsic (Rashba) spin-orbit coupling. The resulting accumulation of intrinsically spin-swapped polarizations is shown to be much larger than for the extrinsic effect. Intrinsic spin swapping is particularly strong when the system dimensions exceed the spin-orbit precession length and the generated transverse spin currents are of the order of the injected primary spin currents. In contrast, spin accumulations and spin currents caused by extrinsic spin swapping are proportional to the spin-orbit coupling. We present numerical and analytical results for the secondary spin currents and accumulations generated by intrinsic spin swapping, and we derive analytic expressions for the induced spin accumulation at the edges of a narrow strip, where a long-range propagation of spin polarizations takes place.