Spin Splitting and Spin Current in Strained Bulk Semiconductors

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding spin splitting and spin currents in strained bulk semiconductors, highlighting a new strain spin-orbit coupling term and proposing experiments to clarify its role.

Contribution

It introduces a previously overlooked strain spin-orbit coupling term and suggests experimental setups to identify its effects in inversion asymmetric semiconductors.

Findings

Prediction of uniform magnetization parallel to electric field in specific conditions

Proposal of experimental geometries to detect spin currents

Identification of a new strain spin-orbit coupling term

Abstract

We present a theory for two recent experiments in bulk strained semiconductors \cite{kato1, kato2} and show that a new, previously overlooked, strain spin-orbit coupling term may play a fundamental role. We propose simple experiments that could clarify the origin of strain-induced spin-orbit coupling terms in inversion asymmetric semiconductors. We predict that a uniform magnetization parallel to the electric field will be induced in the samples studied in \cite{kato1, kato2} for specific directions of the applied electric field. We also propose special geometries to detect spin currents in strained semiconductors.