Spin Hall mode in a trapped thermal Rashba gas

TL;DR

This paper theoretically explores a trapped 2D Rashba spin-orbit coupled gas, revealing a spin Hall mode characterized by spin-dipole oscillations that depend on coupling strength and quantum statistics.

Contribution

It provides an exact analysis of spin Hall mode properties in a trapped Rashba gas, highlighting the effects of spin-orbit coupling and quantum statistics.

Findings

Spin-dipole oscillations occur in response to center-of-mass displacement.

Oscillation amplitude varies with spin-orbit coupling strength.

Quantum statistics influence the oscillation characteristics.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate a two-dimensional harmonically-trapped gas of identical atoms with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and no interatomic interactions. In analogy with the spin Hall effect in uniform space, the gas exhibits a spin Hall mode. In particular, in response to a displacement of the center-of-mass of the system, spin-dipole moment oscillations occur. We determine the properties of these oscillations exactly, and find that their amplitude strongly depends on the spin-orbit coupling strength and the quantum statistics of the particles.