# Anisotropy of transport in bulk Rashba metals

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the anisotropic electrical conductivity in 3D Rashba metals, revealing how spin-orbit coupling influences charge transport differently depending on current direction, and suggests experimental ways to measure spin-orbit strength.

## Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of how spin-orbit coupling causes anisotropic transport in 3D Rashba metals, extending understanding beyond 2D systems.

## Key findings

- Spin-orbit coupling affects dc conductivity in all density regimes in 3D.
- Transport anisotropy depends on current direction and is governed by the anomalous current component.
- Conductivity anisotropy measurements can directly assess spin-orbit strength.

## Abstract

The recent experimental discovery of three-dimensional (3D) materials hosting a strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling calls for the theoretical investigation of their transport properties. Here we study the zero temperature dc conductivity of a 3D Rashba metal in the presence of static diluted impurities. We show that, at variance with the two-dimensional case, in 3D systems spin-orbit coupling affects dc charge transport in all density regimes. We find in particular that the effect of spin-orbit interaction strongly depends on the direction of the current, and we show that this yields strongly anisotropic transport characteristics. In the dominant spin-orbit coupling regime where only the lowest band is occupied, the SO-induced conductivity anisotropy is governed entirely by the anomalous component of the renormalized current. We propose that measurements of the conductivity anisotropy in bulk Rashba metals may give a direct experimental assessment of the spin-orbit strength.