Resonant Spin Hall Conductance in Two-Dimensional Electron Systems with Rashba Interaction in a Perpendicular Magnetic Field

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Rashba spin-orbit interaction influences the spin Hall conductance in a 2D electron system under a magnetic field, revealing a resonant behavior linked to Landau level degeneracies.

Contribution

It demonstrates the emergence of a resonant spin Hall conductance due to Landau level degeneracies caused by Rashba coupling and magnetic field interplay.

Findings

Resonant spin Hall conductance occurs at certain magnetic fields.

Conductance diverges as temperature approaches zero.

Hall conductance remains unaffected by Rashba interaction.

Abstract

We study transport properties of a two-dimensional electron system with Rashba spin-orbit coupling in a perpendicular magnetic field. The spin orbit coupling competes with Zeeman splitting to introduce additional degeneracies between different Landau levels at certain magnetic fields. This degeneracy, if occuring at the Fermi level, gives rise to a resonant spin Hall conductance, whose height is divergent as 1/T and whose weight is divergent as $-\ln T$ at low temperatures. The Hall conductance is unaffected by the Rashba coupling.